Seducing the Mushroom King
by Lahdolphin
Summary: Katsu Ren is forced into taking the throne of Hyotei when the once and future captain abandons it. Now Katsu seeks revenge for there is no one in the world Katsu Ren hates more than Hiyoshi Wakashi. OCs.
1. Summer

**Disclaimer: **** I do not own Prince of Tennis or any real world organizations referenced within this fic.**

**Note: Many thanks and cookies to the lovely _Lissie Lupin_ who held my hand while I wrote this, offered her insight, and betaed it for me. She's lovely and is the only reason I ever finished this piece.**

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**Seducing the Mushroom King**

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**SUMMER**

There was no one in the world Katsu Ren hated more than Hiyoshi Wakashi.

Summer break had ended and school had started once more. As if move in day didn't supply a ridiculous amount of stress under normal circumstances, Katsu had been ambushed in his bed during the middle of the night. He was blindfolded, had a wadded up ball of grip tape shoved into his mouth, and was dragged to an unknown room. He was fairly certain he was a sacrifice in some crazy ritual. But that wasn't even the worst of it.

He. Was. Naked.

Whoever it was that had attacked him shoved him to a hard floor that felt cold beneath his unbound hands. He spit out the ball of tape, the horrid taste of rubber lingering on his tongue. The blindfold was untied and fluttered to the ground. He looked up, his hazel eyes struggling to make out the vague silhouettes; everything was fuzzy without his glasses.

"It seems our guest is finally starting to understand."

Katsu's eyes went wide. He knew that voice. That voice belonged to—

"Atobe, shut up," Shishido hissed.

Katsu was surrounded by Atobe Keigo and the other ex-regulars who had graduated the previous year. That's when it hit Katsu like one of Ohtori's serves: he was being hazed by the crazy Hyotei tennis players.

He was going to kill Hiyoshi if it was the last thing he did. If Hiyoshi hadn't quit tennis after their first year, if he had just stuck with the team and had become captain, Katsu would not have to deal with this crap.

"Can I have my boxers back?" Katsu groaned. He moved so he was sitting on his knees, his hands placed over his groin. The ex-regulars, however, were cavalier as hell about a naked third year sitting on the locker room floor.

"You took his boxers?" Mukahi asked, looking at Shishido. "Perv."

"They slipped! Besides, I was expecting Hiyoshi," Shishido grumbled. "But when I went to his room, Choutarou and he told me this idiot was made captain because Hiyoshi never rejoined."

Atobe snapped his fingers, punctuated by a sharp, "Quiet." The old regulars followed, obedient as ever.

Katsu watched with dread as Atobe approached him, the heir's haughtiness and confidence making Katsu hyperaware of that fact that he was holding his junk in his hands.

"Stand," Atobe ordered. Katsu did as he was told, not surprised when he only came up to Atobe's nose. He was short, naked, and being examined by the most powerful person to walk through the halls of Hyotei. Not exactly how he wanted to start his final year of high school.

"Who are you?" Atobe questioned.

"I was on the pre-regulars last year—"

Atobe held up a hand. "Don't answer, you imbecile." He hummed, circling Katsu like a vulture. Katsu could feel his olive skin heating up. Without warning, Atobe asked, "Why is it that you are captain and not Hiyoshi?"

"He quit," Katsu answered. "You were there when he quit, Atobe-buchou, over the summer."

"Why is it that he did not join again?" Atobe was standing right in front of him, a hair's width away from the naked boy. "Why is it that you, someone whom I have never heard of—"

"_I was on the pre-regular team last year_—"

"—is the captain of the almighty Hyotei tennis team?"

"Uh, the club advisor made me captain since Ohtori couldn't control a fly. Look, am I in trouble or—?"

"We had this whole hazing thing we were going to do with Hiyoshi," Mukahi said. He was holding a backpack that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Maybe they were going to sacrifice him to the tennis gods to make sure Hyotei's tennis club succeeded. Great, he was going to die because these people took tennis way too seriously.

"I suppose he will have to do, Gakuto," Oshitari said with a small sigh. "Pity, though. Hiyoshi was much more fun to tease."

"Are you allergic to any of the ingredients in silly string?" Shishido asked with a malicious grin. "Or markers? Icing, confetti, ice water?"

Katsu was suddenly circled by Atobe, Shishido, Oshitari, Mukahi, and Akutagawa. He desperately wished Hiyoshi was in his spot, like he should be, and that he was back in his bed. But that wasn't the case. The naked third year was ensnared by his old senpai, each wearing a mischievous smile and wishing Katsu was Hiyoshi.

"Congratulations on making captain. What was your name again? I suppose it doesn't matter," Atobe said. "Jirou, the silly string."

"Hey!" Katsu protested, lifting his hands and trying to block the onslaught of silly string. "Hey! Stop. I said, stop! _Help!_"

Katsu Ren was going to kill Hiyoshi Wakashi.

.

Katsu took three showers when he returned to his dorm, put on a pair of boxers, then crawled into his bed. His entire body ached and he had sugar in places sugar did not belong. He would be much happier buried six feet under, but he wasn't that lucky.

His roommate slept through the whole thing, oblivious as always to the world around him. How that blind fool became a floor advisor was beyond Katsu. Katsu's roommate only woke up when his alarm clock blared at seven in the morning.

"Mornin'," muttered Harada Yuu as he sat up and stretched like a cat. His green eyes drifted to Katsu's bed where the tennis captain was holding a pillow over his head. Harada walked over, their dorm room's carpet tickling his bare feet, and yanked the pillow off of Katsu's head.

Katsu's hands shot to his neck, but it had been too late; Harada was doubled over laughing. Scribbled on the back of Katsu's olive-skinned neck was: _good luck not Hiyoshi_.

"Atobe knows how to do henna." Katsu sat up, grabbed his pillow, and thwacked the awkwardly tall boy over the head with it. "You let me get kidnapped! You're the student in charge of this floor, aren't you supposed to keep things like that from happening?"

"It was my first night on the job, give me a break." Harada scratched at his bare chest as a grin broke across his lips. "Hiyoshi lives in 2C. That's right down the hall."

"So?" Katsu rubbed at his face, which was still sticky from all that icing. His face changed as he remembered why he had been attacked last night. With menace in his eyes and a snake-like hiss, Katsu muttered, "Hiyoshi Wakashi must die."

"Murder can wait," Harada said passingly as he walked over to his small cabinet. He opened the faded wooden doors and grabbed the duffle bag from the bottom; he hadn't finished unpacking his clothes yet.

"Murder is more important than whatever it is you have planned." Katsu grabbed his square, black, thick-framed glasses off his nightstand and shoved them over his hazel eyes. He rolled out of bed and walked over to his cabinet where his clothes were hanging.

"Whatever you say, Kat. Just a suggestion, though. You might want to post something on the board in the common room about practice days since you're captain and all."

That was the problem, Katsu thought as he pulled on a collared shirt to hide his new tattoo. He wasn't supposed to be captain. Hiyoshi Wakashi was supposed to be in his shoes. That stupid mushroom head was supposed to still be playing tennis, not sitting on the sidelines. Katsu didn't even know why Hiyoshi had quit in the first place.

"You're a student advisor," Katsu said, a light of realization washing over him like the ice-water Shishido had dumped on him.

"Yeah. What of it?"

"You have access to student records if the guy lives on your floor."

"Yeah..."

"So that means you can see why Hiyoshi quit. It's the tennis club, people can't just quit. You need to fill out forms and stuff. That had to have been documented."

Harada shook his head as he stepped into his shorts. "I'm not allowed to tell you that. Even if I was, I wouldn't tell you that. The only person who can tell you that is Hiyoshi."

Katsu, now completely dressed, turned to face his best friend. "I only want to know why he quit. I mean, he's Hiyoshi. That guy is a stubborn mushroom. He wouldn't just quit!"

"Leave it alone, Kat," Harada said. "You're captain; he's not, so just deal with it. C'mon, let's get breakfast and grab our books. I want to check out our common room, too."

Katsu's shoulders slumped. The one chance he had at figuring out why Hiyoshi quit had been Harada and that obviously wasn't going to happen.

He followed Harada out of their room, 2A, feeling incredibly short next to him. When they passed 2C, Hiyoshi and Ohtori's room, Katsu felt even smaller. He wasn't meant to be captain. He wasn't. Hiyoshi was.

.

The second floor common room was packed when Katsu posted the notice about tennis practice on the bulletin board that was already covered in dozens of obnoxious, flamboyant flyers. He pinned it carelessly next to the one Harada had posted for the swim team, then turned and saw a few familiar faces amongst the third year boys, including Hiyoshi.

Hiyoshi was sitting in a beanbag next to Ohtori discussing their schedules and catching up on summer adventures. Not that Hiyoshi had anything to tell. Katsu figured that boy was as dull as a rock. The guy just looked boring.

Katsu walked past the beanbags where the two sat, plopping down onto the circular leather sofa near two boys who he did not recognize. The two both sported short brown hair and casual smiles, neither looking overly impressive or dull. One had freckles and the other had big ears and a bigger nose.

"I'm Ikeda and that's Aoki," the boy with the big nose said, jerking his thumb to the freckled boy named Aoki. "We live in 2D. You're Katsu, right?"

Katsu nodded. Aoki pointed his own face and said, "Your glasses are crooked."

Katsu reached up and adjusted his black frames, wishing they would stay straight for once. As if terrible eyesight wasn't bad enough, he had uneven ears and had the tendency to be attacked by crazy ex-tennis players. He figured he won the Unlucky Gene drawing when conceived.

"Looks like we got a good floor," Ikeda said conversationally. He gazed around the floor's common room, eyeing the boys present. His eyes eventually settled on Katsu. "When are tennis try outs?"

"I posted the information on the board. You'll also get it in the e-mail for campus announcements or whatever." Katsu furrowed his thin black eyebrows in confusion. "Since when do you play tennis?"

Ikeda shrugged with a smug grin. "Figured I give it a shot. With all the old regulars gone, I think it's time for me to step up to the plate."

Katsu's angular features seemed to harden. "Mm-hmm."

"I read this great article over the summer so I figure I can help some of the first years out, you know?"

Katsu saw Aoki roll his eyes as Ikeda continued. Katsu didn't listen, though. Instead, he watched Ohtori approach the sofa with his usual, gentle expression. Ohtori had not changed much over the years — a new haircut here or there, he grew a bit taller, but never really changed those little things that made him who he was.

"Did Shishido-san come and get you last night?" Ohtori asked, sounding somewhat guilty. Katsu figured he deserved to be guilty. He had a temporary tattoo and was permanently scarred thanks to Ohtori's ignorant honesty.

"He found me and was very upset that I was not Hiyoshi." Katsu turned his head just enough to see Hiyoshi, who was watching them. Hiyoshi didn't turn his head when Katsu's hazel eyes found him. Like Ohtori, Hiyoshi had not changed all that much, if at all. Katsu looked back at Ohtori and said, "They thought he should have rejoined by now. What exactly happened to him again?"

"Well, I guess he could have, but it's his choice and not my place to say," Ohtori replied, looking warily at Ikeda and Aoki before returning his attention to Katsu. "I'll see you at the first practice. You have my number if you want to talk about what we're doing. I mean, what you're doing, Katsu-buchou."

Katsu smiled. "Katsu's fine. You don't hear me calling you Ohtori-fukubuchou."

Ohtori returned Katsu's smile and walked away, returning to his bean bag. Katsu caught Hiyoshi's eyes before he turned to talk to Ohtori.

"I don't know why that oaf is vice-captain," Ikeda said. "He's useless without Shishido."

Katsu turned his head to look at Ikeda, who Katsu decided he did not like in the least.

At least he didn't have to say anything to shut Ikeda up; Harada had entered the room and clapped his hands, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Harada always took the attention in the room, according to what Katsu had heard from his small pool of female acquaintances. Personally, Katsu thought it was because Harada was nearly as tall as Ohtori, maybe taller, and not because he was "Hot Hara."

"I'm Harada Yuu, your floor advisor."

"Don't even get me started on him," Ikead murmured.

Katsu visibly rolled his eyes at the boy's comment. He had a response on the tip of his tongue — "Don't even get me started on _you_" — but held himself back. It was the first day of the school year and classes didn't start for a week. The last thing he needed was to make an enemy who could potentially jump him during the night. Oh, wait, that had already happened.

"I'm in 2A. Any complaints should be brought to me," Harada continued. "Lights out at ten. Alcohol, drugs, pets, candles, and other forbidden items will be confiscated. The full list of illegal items can be found on the bulletin board. You can find the official school calendar, team practice dates, and floor announcements on the board as well. Basically, all the crap you need to know is on the bulletin board."

Harada sighed and his muscles shoulders, toned from hours in the school pool, dropped. "Just don't piss me off and don't do anything stupid, and I'm sure we'll be fine."

He strode across the room, his long legs allowing for him to move quickly. He sat down next to Katsu and tossed an arm over the back of the leather sofa. The room filled with noise at that point, returning to how it was before Harada made his announcement.

"By the way, Kat," Harada said, knocking his foot against Katsus's, "Hiyoshi came by earlier to tell me to wish you luck."

"I highly doubt that," Katsu replied dully.

Katsu remembered he was supposed to be planning that boy's murder. Hiyoshi was going to die, Katsu just wasn't quite sure how. His top idea consisted of hammers, stealing acid from the chemistry department, and a yet-to-be-determined dumping site.

.

Katsu gazed across the courts, taking in the familiar faces and the new. He was standing where Atobe had once stood. He was standing as the leader of the famed Hyotei tennis club. He was standing as the best tennis player of them all.

He was going to puke.

He put a hand over his gut as if that would stop the contents of his stomach from being all wishy-washy. He did not want his first act as captain to be vomiting on a poor little first year. He also did not want urinating in public to be his first act as captain. Or being attacked by a squirrel on acid. The more he thought about, the more things he added to the list.

A large hand on his shoulder made him jump. He turned and saw Ohtori smiling and removing his freakishly large hand from Katsu's shoulder. "Everyone is waiting."

"That's great," Katsu murmured. "But what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Hesitantly, Ohtori shrugged. "Just do what Atobe-buchou did?"

"You want me to snap my fingers, toss my jacket into the sky, and turn them into my brainwashed, zombie chanting slaves?"

"When you put it like that, I guess not. Unless you want to do that." Another hesitant shrug. "Introduce yourself?"

Katsu sighed. Hiyoshi would know what to do. Hiyoshi had probably been trained by Atobe himself to be captain. Even if he wasn't, he had some experience from when he was captain back in junior high. Katsu, on the other hand, couldn't even spell the word "captain" in his current state. He could barely contain his undigested breakfast.

Ohtori gave Katsu a gentle nudge forward. His movement caught the attention of the club members, who were staring at him like he knew what he was doing. Everyone went silent and they were watching him and he could feel his stomach moving up his throat.

"My name is Katsu Ren. Um..."

Then, his mind went blank the same way it did when he went to take a test. He couldn't remember his year, let alone who he was trying to fool by calling himself captain. He remembered the henna tattoo on the back of his neck:_ Good luck not Hiyoshi_.

"Um," Katsu repeated, his heart racing faster than a hummingbird's. "Like I said, I'm Katsu and—and I'm your captain." He saw a few people's faces twist in confusion. He pointed to Ohtori. "Um... He's, uh..."

"My name is Ohtori Choutarou and I'm your vice-captain." Ohtori stepped forward, incredibly tall compared to Katsu's stumpy height. "We welcome you to the club and hope that you help us reach Nationals once more."

Why had Ohtori been able to say that? Why couldn't he have said that? Why was he already failing as captain?

.

His embarrassing first day was not forgotten. During the next practice, Katsu and Ohtori released information about regular tryouts. The tryouts consisted of a tournament for singles and doubles, which Ohtori planned out. Katsu stood there, unable to comprehend how many people wanted to try for a regulars sport. He had forgotten had large the tennis club was.

Katsu and Ohtori spent their first week before classes in the common room going over tryouts, practice ideas, and practice dates. Hiyoshi was never in the common room unless he was with Ohtori, and if Katsu showed, Hiyoshi disappeared quicker than Katsu's boxers on hazing night.

When Harada's alarm went off on Monday morning, Katsu groaned. He heard Harada's heavy footsteps as he padded over to their bathroom. When the sound of Harada peeing drifted into the room, Katsu sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Close the door!" Katsu shouted. Harada walked out of the bathroom butt naked a few moments later, laughing when Katsu screwed his eyes shut. They were best friends, but there were limits which Harada did not seem to understand.

"First day of classes," Harada said. Katsu didn't need to be reminded.

Katsu got up and showered, then changed into his school uniform. He slung his heavy messenger bag over his shoulder as Harada and he headed off to their first class in the mathematics building. After climbing three flights of stairs and wandering through the halls to find the right room, the two captains found their calculus class. There was just one problem.

"You're joking," Katsu muttered. Hiyoshi Wakashi was sitting in the back row, tapping his fingers idly against his graffitied desk. Katsu walked into the room, approaching the mob that surrounded the teacher's desk. He saw the seating chart and wished he was dead.

"Hey, I'm in front of you," Harada said, pointing to the evil sheet of paper.

Katsu huffed as he marched to the back of the room. He dropped his bag onto the ground and sat in his seat, arms crossed.

"Please tell me you're not always in this bad of a mood," Hiyoshi droned, fingers still tapping.

Katsu refused to answer. Just because he sat next to Hiyoshi Wakashi did not mean he had to talk to him.

Harada sat down in front of Katsu, looking between the two. "Okaaay. Not touching that mass of awkward."

Katsu poked the back of Harada's head with a pencil the entire class.

.

Luckily, Hiyoshi was only in his calculus class. Unluckily, the boy began to show up to tennis practices, probably at Ohtori's request. He sat underneath the tree on the hill, knees bent and a book in his lap. Katsu thought about kicking him out, but decided he needed Ohtori to like him because he was still horrible at this captain thing.

Regular tryouts were next week, but no one respected Katsu yet. All members had lined up to do racquet swings, and Katsu and Ohtori walked around fixing forms. Ikeda had taken it upon himself to stop swinging and fix the form of the person next to him.

"Ikeda, stop th-_at!_" Katsu ordered. Had his voice just cracked? Oh crap, it had. He could feel all of his blood rush to his face, trying its hardest to make his olive-skin turn red. Eighteen year old boy's voices weren't supposed to crack.

"But his form is all wrong!" Ikeda replied. His large nose was red from too much time in the sun, peeling along the edges. At least Katsu was smart enough to put on sunscreen.

"So is yours! Fix your wrist!" Katsu snapped. He pointed to the empty spot in the line, watching as Ikeda grudgingly walked back into place. Ten minutes later, Katsu saw Ikeda two lines away, scolding a first year.

"Do you want me to take care of it?" Ohtori asked kindly.

"Yes," Katsu sighed.

Ohtori put a hand on his shoulder — as if that made him feel any better — and walked towards Ikeda.

Katsu suddenly felt like he was being watched. He looked around, but the members in the surrounding area were diligently working. Soon, Katsu's hazels eyes drifted to the boy under the tree. Hiyoshi's head shifted back to his book, his eyes no longer focused on the tennis captain he was supposed to be.

.

Katsu had changed into his pajamas earlier than usual and decided to hang out in the common room. He left room 2A wearing only his sweatpants and glasses, and walked into the floor's lounge. He tossed himself onto the sofa where Aoki, Ohtori, and Hiyoshi sat.

His plans to kill Hiyoshi had been put on hold. His last idea had included a given a rabid squirrel acid then putting it in Hiyoshi's room, but that also meant Ohtori could be hurt. Needless to say, he wasn't the scheming type.

"What're you guys watching?" Katsu asked, propping his feet up onto the coffee table. He looked at the television hanging on the wall. When he didn't receive an answer, he moved his eyes to the three boys. "Uh, why are you guys staring at me?"

"I didn't know you had a tattoo," Aoki said. When Katsu furrowed his black eyebrows in confusion, Aoki prompted, "On the back of your neck...?"

Katsu's hazel eyes went wide. The henna tattoo Atobe had given him hadn't completely faded yet.

"What does that say?" Hiyoshi asked, sitting forward and craning his neck. "Is that my—?"

Katsu stood up, clamped a hand to the back of his neck, and returned to his dorm room.

_Is that my name?_

.

Katsu set his pencil in the crevice in his calculus book. He still believed his teacher made up the word "derivative" just to screw with the class. There was no method to the madness that was calculus; it was numbers and symbols and utter nonsense.

He pulled the tryout schedule out from under his textbook. If tennis couldn't clear his mind, he didn't know what could. As he read over the schedule, he rubbed absentmindedly at the back of his neck, fingers running over the fading ink that he had tried so desperately to scrub away with everyone except steel wool.

There was one person who knew what he was going through. That person was two rooms away.

"I want to die," Katsu mumbled. He ran his hands through his short black hair and thought about his options.

_Option one:_ Suck up his pride and go see Hiyoshi.  
_Verdict:_ He'd rather be hazed again.

_Option two:_ Cut Hiyoshi's head open, consume his brain, and hope the mushroom head's knowledge would pass onto him.  
_Verdict:_ Not a zombie.

_Option three:_ Go in there, pretend to be looking for Ohtori, pussyfoot around the situation until tennis comes up, then steal his knowledge.  
_Verdict: _Why the hell not?

Katsu stood up and left room 2A. He walked down the halls, feelings as though he was walking to the gallows. If he had theme music, it would be a death march.

He stopped in front of the door labeled 2C. He sucked in a deep breath and opened the door. He didn't see anybody at the desk, and the bottom bunk was unoccupied, but the top bunk was. By Ohtori. Darn him.

"Hello," Ohtori greeted as he sat up.

"Is, uh, Hiyoshi here?" Katsu asked, rubbing the back of his neck. He was wearing a t-shirt and his hair wasn't long enough to hide the faded henna tattoo Atobe (bless his evil little soul) had given him nearly two weeks ago.

Ohtori blinked and replied, "Wakashi's in the library. Does Harada need him?"

"Hara? Oh, no. I was just—" Just what? Going to ask the person who unintentionally made his life terrible for captain advice?

Ohtori smiled like he understood which only made Katsu feel even dumber than he already did. Casually, Ohtori said, "He's probably in the mystery section in that big chair."

Katsu nodded, said, "Thanks, Ohtori," then left the room.

He didn't go to the library.

.

Katsu and Ohtori had found their teammates. After the most confusing practice ever and several stolen glances from Hiyoshi, Katsu had announced the results of the regulars tryout tournament.

Ikeda had made the team, much to Katsu's displeasure, but only as singles-three. Everyone was a third year except for singles-two, which was taken by some second year with a killer backhand.

That night, Katsu found himself in Aoki and Ikdea's room with a red cup in his hand. Ikeda's cousin had dropped off a bottle of high quality booze (according to Ikeda) to celebrate him making the team. A few of the floor's other inhabitants were in the room. Harada was swimming and could not chew them out for drinking.

Katsu sat with his back to the corner, his cup clutched in his hands. He heard the door open and looked up to see if they were about to get busted. To his surprise, he saw Hiyoshi and Ohtori. Ikeda shoved cheap plastic cups into their hands and turned up the music.

Ohtori looked over at Katsu, jaw dropped, and Katsu shrugged. Ohtori and Hiyoshi lumbered over, sitting next to the tennis captain. Ohtori stared at the contents of the cup while Hiyoshi stared at Katsu's exposed olive neck.

"What?" Katsu hissed.

"Nothing," Hiyoshi replied. He took a sip of his drink, which surprised Katsu. "Nice tattoo. Atobe-san?"

"Who else would do that?"

Ohtori laughed nervously and set his cup down. "I don't think I'm going to drink any of that..."

Katsu shrugged again. "Suit yourself."

That night, after Harada had busted them for drinking and staying up past lights out, Katsu returned to his room. His dreams were filled with strong hands, wet lips, bare skin, and whispered names.

_Hiyoshi..._

Katsu sat straight up, his hazel eyes wide. He hunched forward and buried his face in his hands as he groaned, "Eff. My. Life."

.

Katsu pretended the dream didn't happen. If he did randomly remember, he reminded himself that he had been drinking and that he always had funky dreams after he drank. He once dreamt about Harada riding a unicorn in a swimming competition after he drank. It was all in his head.

He managed to go the weekend without seeing Hiyoshi, but when Monday reared its ugly head, Katsu had no choice but to attend calculus and sit next to his least favorite person.

"Can I have a pencil?" Hiyoshi asked. Katsu usually imagined shoving a pencil through his neck, but now he saw the pencil somewhere else.

"Here," Katsu said, tossing a pencil onto Hiyoshi's desk. He didn't look at the boy for the rest of class.

That afternoon, after a particularly tough practice — Ikeda had stopped during the middle of a practice match to correct Katsu's Jupiter Serve — Katsu took a long shower. When he returned to the locker room, it was empty save for one person.

Hiyoshi freaking Wakashi. Not exactly who he wanted to see.

"Why are you here?" Katsu asked, slipping his glasses over his hazel eyes and making sure the knot holding his towel up was tight enough. The last thing he wanted to do was flash Hiyoshi. Or did he want to do that? Crap. What was wrong with him? He blamed the dream.

"Choutarou won't shut up about how worried he is about you. It's annoying," Hiyoshi spat.

"Ohtori shouldn't be going to you with these things, he should be coming to me. I'm his captain."

Hiyoshi shrugged as if he really couldn't care less. "I'm only here so I can go one dinner without having to hear your name."

Katsu could feel his angular features harden and his hazel eyes turn cold. That arrogant, mushroom head jerk. Katsu knew he should have poisoned Hiyoshi's tea while he still had the chance.

Hiyoshi walked farther into the locker room, then sat so he was straddling one of the benches and leaning back on his hands. With obvious abhorrence, he asked, "What the hell is bothering you?"

Katsu sighed, his hard facade breaking. He sat down on the bench a few feet away from Hiyoshi, running his hands through his damp, short, messy black hair.

"I don't know," Katsu groaned as his hands slapped against his thighs. "Ikeda won't shut up, the first years won't listen to me, and the third years keep comparing me to Atobe."

"That's all?" Hiyoshi asked dully. "Suck it up or quit."

"Like you did?"

Hiyoshi scowled, his brown eyes darkening. "I didn't quit because I was weak like you are."

"Then why did you quit?"

Hiyoshi stood up at that moment, moving one leg so he was no longer straddling the bench. The look he gave Katsu was indescribable. "It's none of your business why I quit so stop asking me and stop asking Choutarou for that matter."

Katsu stood up, his heart pounding like a drum. "No, don't walk away from me! It's your fault I'm stuck being the captain of this freaking team. It's your fault I was attacked during the middle of the night, and it's your fault—"

"Keep blaming me, that will make all of your problems go away," Hiyoshi cut in. He approached Katsu and flicked his fingers against the back of Katsu's neck, right over his tattoo. A blush spread across Katsu's olive face. Hiyoshi smirked. "Really? You're blushing?"

"Shut up," Katsu hissed. He jerked back, away from Hiyoshi's nimble fingers.

"You're the captain of Hyotei. At least try to act like it," Hiyoshi said, looking down at the captain, who only came up to his nose. "Don't blame me for your current position. I quit for my own reasons. Suck it up, stand your ground, and prove to them you're a captain."

Hiyoshi pivoted and headed for the door. Katsu stood there, unable to move. He watched as Hiyoshi walked towards the exit, stopping briefly and turning around to face Katsu.

"By the way," Hiyoshi said, pointing to his own nose, "your glasses are crooked."

Katsu waited until Hiyoshi was gone to fix his black framed glasses. It was stupid, really, getting flustered just because Hiyoshi touched his neck and pointed out his glasses, which were always crooked. It was stupid, but it had happened.

.

Katsu's moment of truth came during the next practice. The regulars were playing practice matches and Katsu had been put up against Ikeda, who was quick to correct Katsu's serving pose before the first point even began.

Hiyoshi's words echoed in the back of Katsu's head — "prove to them you're a captain."

Katsu blocked out Ikeda's words and served. His tennis was out of this world, he wouldn't have made the top spot in the pre-regulars as a second year if it wasn't. But when all the anger in the universe was driving his moves, Katsu knew it was the best in Hyotei.

Ikeda could not touch his Jupiter Serves or his Saturn Drop-Shot. Ikeda could return his Pluto Plummet, but it always went out. After several games it became very clear that Katsu was out of Ikeda's league. By the end of the set, Ikeda had been crushed.

"I'm the captain and I think I know how to serve," Katsu stated.

As he walked away, he saw Hiyoshi on the hill. The mushroom head seemed to be smiling, but that was impossible. Hiyoshi didn't smile... Did he?

.

Katsu poked Harada with a pencil during the middle of a calculus lecture. The tall boy turned around. When Katsu mouthed "do you get this?" Harada shrugged, and then faced the board again.

"You need to use substitution," Hiyoshi mumbled. Katsu stared at him. Hiyoshi returned his stare and added a smirk. "You'll need all the luck you can get, not Hiyoshi."

Katsu unconsciously covered the back of his neck as he hissed, "Bite me."

Hiyoshi looked back at his notes. Katsu didn't speak for the rest of class in fear of yelling the boy to death. It was bad enough that Hiyoshi gave him tennis advice — he'd rather fail calculus than have the jerk's help.

.

Katsu sat with his back to the cool, damp tiled wall of the pool room and tried to ignore the awful smell of chlorine. Harada swam back and forth, occasionally whooping when a shorter time flashed on the screen. Katsu patiently waited for his friend as he stared at his calculus homework. His teacher had stopped talking about derivatives and changed to integrals. She was crazy if she expected anyone to understand this.

He turned to a new page in his notebook, scribbling across the top: _reasons to kill Hiyoshi Wakashi_. The first word he wrote was "hazing," shortly followed by "arrogant," "busybody," and "stupid hair." He realized the last one wasn't the best reason in the world, but it was a reason nonetheless.

He heard heavy wet footsteps and looked up. Harada had pulled himself out of the pool and was rubbing his barely-there brown hair with a towel.

Katsu covered his glasses with his hand until Harada was not standing in front of him and said, "I vote that you change the swim uniform to anything other than speedos."

Harada laughed and pressed his back to the wall. He slid down to the floor, the towel now wrapped around his shoulders. He looked at what Katsu was writing and hummed.

"You forgot 'quit tennis,'" Harada said. "That is why you hate him, right? He quite tennis so you ended up being captain of that crazy ass team."

Katsu tilted his head back and sighed. "I wish I knew why he quit. If it was a decent reason, I probably wouldn't resent him as much. I'd still want to put a poison arrow in his neck, but the urge would lessen."

Harada mimicked his sigh. "It's messed up."

"What's messed up?"

"Why he quit." Katsu lifted his head to stare at his best friend. Harada half-smiled and said, "I seriously can't tell you. If it was just because he got bored or something like that, I would. But it isn't. It's _so _messed up. I don't think anyone besides your old tennis senpai and the teachers know."

"Was it an injury?" Katsu questioned. "Just say yes or no."

Harada hesitated, and then sighed, "Yes."

"Atobe said Hiyoshi could have rejoined, so he's healed by now." Katsu tapped his pencil against his notebook. "It was over the summer, but it had to be serious if he quit, right? He didn't have a cast when he came back, so no broken bones. A concussion doesn't make sense..."

"I'm not helping you play Guess What That Kid Went Through," Harada said as he stood up. "I'm gonna change then get some dinner. You coming?"

"Yeah. I'll meet you outside the locker room."

Katsu gathered his things and rose to his feet. If it wasn't a broken bone, then what was it? What happened to Hiyoshi Wakashi that was so messed up that he had to quit the thing he loved the most? Katsu didn't know and he couldn't figure it out.

* * *

**A/N: This story was originally going to be a one-shot, but once I wrote it all out, I decided to break it up into four chapters. **


	2. Autumn

**AUTUMN**

Autumn was beginning to take over the long lost days of summer. The air grew colder, and the leaves turned beautiful shades of orange and red. The tattoo had disappeared and Hiyoshi no longer showed up to afternoon practices. Katsu should have been happier about the latter of the two, but he wasn't.

The third years were running laps, the second years were doing crunches, and the first years were working on their swings. Katsu moved from year to year making sure no one was slacking. If he found someone who was slacking, he didn't know what to say, and pretended he didn't see anything.

As Katsu approached Ohtori, the tall boy held out a bottle of water. Katsu muttered, "Thanks," sitting down on the bench next to his vice-captain.

"Now, don't get mad" —which meant Katsu would get mad— "but I was talking to Wakashi earlier and he said it might be good if you did more inter-level stuff." Ohtori clutched at his own water bottle, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have said that, Katsu-buchou—"

"Stop with the Katsu-buchou already, jeez." Katsu looked over to the tree on the hill where the mushroom head used to sit. Bitterly, he said, "I'm not doing that."

"I know you're in charge, but maybe — I mean, there are some first years who are better than some third years. It might be good to do a few practices like that instead of separating everyone..."

Katsu took a sip of water as he pulled his cellphone out of his back pocket to check the time. He grumbled, realizing they had time for a few combined matches with the pre-regulars. He stood up, then looked down at Ohtori.

"How do I tell them to stop doing what they're doing?" he asked, feeling rather stupid. He felt stupid a lot at tennis practice.

"Atobe-buchou snapped. You could try that. Or maybe you could blow a whistle?"

Katsu walked onto the courts, his knees knocking, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and whistled so loudly the people around him covered his ears.

"Stop!" he shouted. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Crap. Now what? "Now, the pre-regulars and regulars should come here and do practice matches. Everyone else can, um, do squats or pushups or something productive."

As people began to move, Ohtori approached him and kindly asked, "Who's going to referee?"

Katsu groaned and stuck his fingers back into his mouth to whistle again.

.

Katsu was sitting in a chair in the common room staring down at one of three lists he had about Hiyoshi Wakashi. The first was a "how to kill," the second was "reasons to kill," and the third, the one he was currently looking at, was "injury."

Nothing fit. Hiyoshi had not broken a bone, had not gained an obvious illness such as cancer, and had not been unfit to play tennis in anyway. The only possible explanation was that the injury was somewhere he couldn't see. A surgery on his chest? Heart transplant? Scratch that last one — Hiyoshi didn't have a heart.

Katsu scribbled "surgery" onto the list and circled it. Then, he sighed.

"Shouldn't you be doing your calc homework since you're almost failing that class?" a voice from behind asked.

Katsu tilted his head back, his black glasses sliding back his nose into place. "Shouldn't you be off creeping like an anti-social freak?"

Hiyoshi sneered as he walked around the chair Katsu was sitting in. He sat on the chair a few feet away, opening the book he had been carrying. Katsu studied him for a few moments, then asked, "Why are you reading there?"

"Someone spilled soda on the leather sofa, the beanbags are full, Choutarou's spread out his sheet music all over our room for some ridiculous reason, and there's a bunch of first years studying in the library. This was the only place left." Hiyoshi looked about as pleased as he sounded.

Katsu tapped his pencil against his notebook. Maybe if he tossed it the right way it would clip Hiyoshi's jugular and—

Katsu turned his complete attention to his notebook before the idea became a little too tempting.

.

Katsu was in the library looking for a book to use for his history paper when he saw Hiyoshi. The boy was curled up in a large chair with his nose to a book and a mug of tea sitting on the table next to him. Katsu walked over, stopping in front of Hiyoshi's chair.

"What?" Hiyoshi asked, glancing up from his book.

"Are you allergic to anything?"

Hiyoshi radiated suspiciousness like Atobe radiated flamboyant diva. Katsu realized he wasn't the most subtle guy in the world, but maybe if he found out what Hiyoshi was allergic to, he could slip some into his tea. Bam! Dead ex-tennis player.

Wait. What would he do with the body?

"Actually, don't answer that," Katsu said. "I like my plan with the crocodiles more."

_"What?"_

"I said that second part out loud, didn't I?" Katsu asked, slightly horrified. Hiyoshi nodded slowly. Katsu could feel his olive cheeks heating up. "Pretend I didn't say anything."

"Trust me, I've already forgotten." Katsu pursed his lips, then turned to walk away. He heard Hiyoshi say, "Your glasses are—"

"I know."

Katsu walked behind a nearby bookcase. He moved a few books apart and looked through the gap he had created. He knew he was probably lurking, but he preferred to think of it as "ninja observation."

When Hiyoshi's eyes met his, Katsu flushed red. He left without getting his book.

.

Katsu was sitting on a bench by the pool slaving over his calculus homework. He decided he had dyscalculia and could not do math. He was going to write that on the next test and hope his teacher took pity on him.

Harada resurfaced and asked, "Did you see that?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"What did I do?"

"You made a shark fin with your hands."

When Harada got excited and was swimming, it was generally because he had made a shark fin with his hands and used bubbles to play the theme song from _Jaws._

The tall brunet pulled himself out of the pool and padded over to sit next to Katsu. He glanced at the boy's homework and said, "You should get a tutor."

"No one in that class would tutor me."

"Hiyoshi might. He's got one of the highest grades."

"He sits there and doodles UFOs on his notes."

"And how do you know what he draws in his notebook?" Harada nudged Katsu with a wet shoulder and wiggled his eyebrows. "Those happy dreams you've been having are about him, aren't they?"

Katsu felt the urge to vomit when Harada said "happy dreams." There was something very wrong about that. But, yes, they were very happy dreams.

"Who said I'm having 'happy dreams'?"

"You make serious happy noises when you have happy dreams," Harada responded. "It's either that girl from history or Hiyoshi." Katsu felt blood rush to his olive cheeks at Hiyoshi's name. Harada grinned. "Dude, you like dudes."

"I don't like dudes, especially not Hiyoshi."

But that was a lie. A big, fat, pants-on-fire lie. Katsu just didn't know that yet.

.

During the middle of calculus, Katsu was having a very pleasant dream about an army of monkeys trained to use bazookas; Hiyoshi was running for his life when someone put a hand on his shoulder.

"Heads are gonna roll," Katsu hissed as he lifted his head. He expected to see Harada's hand, but that was not the case.

Katsu jerked out of his seat to get away from Hiyoshi's hand. Actually, it was more like a flailing, screeching acid-addicted squirrel falling from a tree. He fell to the floor, his head hitting the desk next to him. The entire class stared at him like he had just sprouted an extra head.

"Is there a problem?" the teacher asked in that bring-it-on teacher voice like she was asking for him to say something stupid. She knew him so well.

_Option one: _Jump up, pretend nothing happened, and if anyone asked, blame it on his "other self."  
_Verdict: _He really didn't want to deal with therapy.

_Option two: _Sprint to the door and never come back.  
_Verdict:_ Didn't think he would survive as a refugee.

_Option three:_ Hope a space android came crashing through the window and claim he saw it coming and ducked.  
_Verdict:_ He wasn't that lucky.

What he ended up doing was, "Uh..."

Smooth. Really smooth.

"Get back in your seat and pay attention."

Katsu nodded and stood up. He sat back down, looking down at his notes.

"Nice one," Hiyoshi said softly, resting his head in his palm as he doodled on his notes. Katsu turned his head and saw what Hiyoshi was doodling. Scribbled on the paper was a stick-figure labeled "Katsu" falling out of a desk. Hiyoshi smirked. "I call it, 'The Great Fall of Katsu Ren.'"

"You should add your fat head to it."

"You should be nicer to the person who got the team to respect you."

"You did nothing. All you did was quit and leave me with those little fire-breathing, baboon-brained monsters. You are directly responsible for my crappy life."

"Katsu! Hiyoshi!" the teacher shouted. "Be quiet or both of you will have plenty of time to talk in detention!"

Katsu sunk into his seat and added "monkeys with bazookas" to his list of ways to kill Hiyoshi.

.

Hiyoshi approached Katsu when they were alone in the common room. Hiyoshi sat in the chair facing Katsu's, not speaking until Katsu looked up from his phone.

"What?" Katsu hissed.

"Choutarou is worried about you. Again," Hiyoshi sighed, like just thinking about listening to Ohtori worry over Katsu gave him a headache. Then, he continued, "You must be the worst captain in the history of Hyotei."

"Are you going to give me some more lovely advice?" Katsu asked. Sarcastically, he droned, "Please, tell me, oh wise one who quit."

Hiyoshi sneered. "You're the one who can't give instructions without puking."

"I have an idea. Let's pretend you gave me some useless advice so you can calm Ohtori's nerves. In reality, why don't you leave me alone."

"You really are a helpless case. A captain who doesn't listen to other people is completely useless." Hiyoshi sighed (as if he gave a crap, Katsu thought) and then stood up. "Maybe you wouldn't vomit all over the courts if you grew a pair."

"Like you can talk, quitter."

As Hiyoshi walked by, he plucked something out of Katsu's black hair. Katsu twisted in his seat so quickly it was comical; he ended up sitting sideways in the seat. He stared at the honey-haired boy.

"What was that for?"

"You had something in your hair." Hiyoshi smirked. "What did you think I was going to do, kill you?"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

Hiyoshi flicked the little fuzzy he had taken out of Katsu's hair at the captain before he left. Katsu sunk down in his hair and wished his cheeks would return to their normal color.

.

Katsu placed his hands on the cool shower wall and let the cold water cascade down his back. He dipped his head and sighed. At two in the morning, he had woken from another "happy dream" — caresses, skin, touches, moans, kisses...

He was supposed to hate Hiyoshi Wakashi, not dream about him, especially not like _that_. Hiyoshi was the reason he was captain of a team he never wanted to lead. Hiyoshi was the reason he couldn't look at icing without cringing (actually, that was Shishido, but that's beside the point). Hiyoshi had done nothing good for him in his entire life, yet he had these dreams.

Wonderful, amazing, totally awesome dreams.

What was wrong with him?

.

Harada swore as he walked out into the common room in only a pair of shorts. He flopped down on the sofa next to Katsu, Aoki, and Ikeda. Harada spread out his legs, pushing his shorts up so high that it would usually earn him a punch to the arm. However, given the fact that the air system was stuck on max heat, no one blamed him. Katsu was going to start demanding blood soon, it was that freaking hot.

"When are they going to fix this?" Ikeda asked, fanning himself with a folded piece of paper. "I can't take any more cold showers or I'll prune. An athlete cannot prune."

"Shut up, Ikeda," Harada snapped. "I'll give you detention if you say anything else."

Katsu had come to the conclusion that Harada could not give detention and that he simply disliked Ikeda. Katsu didn't mention this to anyone, though, because he too disliked Ikeda.

"Ohtori has the right idea," Aoki said. "I was in his room earlier and he got a bunch of ice from that smoothie place near the cafeteria."

"Ice?" Harada echoed.

Aoki nodded. "Yup. A few pitchers of it."

Harada stood up rather suddenly and announced, "I'm stealing some ice. Kat, come with me."

"What? No! _Hey!_" Katsu protested as Harada wrapped his hand around Katsu's wrist and dragged him to room 2C. "Your hand is gross, let go!"

Harada used his free hand to open the door to Hiysohi and Ohtori's dorm. Ohtori was sitting on the floor in front of a fan in a pair of shorts. A few feet away, Hiyoshi sat with a pitcher of ice, running a cube over the back of his neck.

It was not Hiyoshi's actions that caught Katsu's eye, it was his bare chest. Lighter and darker lines of various shapes and sizes dotted his exposed skin, and Katsu was sure that his back was similar. Hiyoshi's torso was covered in scars.

Ohtori was the first to realize that Harada and Katsu had walked in. His eyes went wide and he seemed so genuinely concerned that Katsu wondered what type of a conversation they had walked in on. Gossip? Sex talk?

When Hiyoshi tore his sheet off of his bed and covered it in front of his chest, Katsu knew it wasn't the conversation. There was something about Hiyoshi's scars, something that Ohtori and Hiysohi didn't want him to know.

Ohtori grabbed another pitcher of ice that had been next to the fan, stood up, shoved it into Harada's hands, and all but pushed them out of the room.

"Please, I'm sorry, just leave," Ohtori mumbled.

"What—?" Katsu began, but never finished. Ohtori apologized once more, sounding more desperate than Katsu had ever heard him, and closed the door in the faces.

Harada forced a smile as he shook the contents of the plastic pitcher. He walked back over to the sofa, sat down next to Aoki, and popped an ice-cube into his mouth.

Katsu didn't move. He stood rooted in place, his mind racing. An injury, quitting tennis, those scars — what had happened to Hiyoshi Wakashi?

Through the door, Katsu heard Hiyoshi's voice, shaken and enraged. "You said you locked the door, Choutarou!"

"I'm sorry—"

"He's not an idiot, he'll figure it out!"

"Maybe it isn't bad if he finds out? He cares in his own weird way and I know you like him."

"I do not like him!"

"Kat!"

Katsu turned his head when he heard Harada call his nickname. The tall boy waved him over to the sofa. Katsu walked over, sat down, and put an ice-cube into his mouth. He didn't need the ice, though. Hiyoshi's words were cold enough.

_I do not like him!_

Katsu didn't even know why he cared. He only knew that it hurt.

.

Katsu hardly slept. His dreams were filled with Hiyoshi, but they weren't as sickeningly pleasant as the others. These dreams were filled with fires and metal and screams. Katsu woke up in a cold sweat, his mind encased with thoughts of Hiyoshi Wakashi and his scars.

He put on his thick glasses then changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. It was Saturday, which meant he had nothing to do all day. He was never really a walking type, but maybe a lap around campus would clear his mind.

The air smelled like worms and rotten acorns, and it was cold. He ignored it and focused on the bare trees, their leaves fallen to the ground just like Hiyoshi had fallen in that fire...

"Katsu."

He jerked his head to the right and saw Hiyoshi crossing across a courtyard to reach him. Katsu couldn't help but think of the scars that were hidden behind his black jacket.

"Uh, hey," Katsu said when Hiyoshi stopped next to him. Was he blushing? Hiyoshi looked amused so he was probably blushing. Dang it. "Are you and Ohtori — well, are you guys, you know, alright?"

Hiyoshi shrugged.

Katsu kept rambling on even though he kept telling his mouth to stay shut. Stupid mouth, it always got him into so much trouble.

"It was Hara's fault. He wanted some ice. It's been hot in the dorm and—"

"I know," Hiyoshi cut in. Grumbling, so Katsu could barely hear, he added, "I should have checked the door anyways."

"You should have," Katsu said.

Hiyoshi glared. "You're a smart ass, you know that?"

"You just figured that out?" To his surprise, Hiyoshi cracked a small smile. Katsu pointed at him and, with a smug smirk, shouted, "You're smiling!"

Hiyoshi stopped smiling. "Now you're just annoying again."

"Hey, you're the one who called out my name," Katsu reminded him.

Hiyoshi was silent for a moment. Katsu just stared at him, wondering what was going through the jerk's head.

"I was," Hiyoshi said, as if he didn't believe it. He looked confused for a moment, then added, "I'll see you later."

Hiyoshi walked away, but Katsu knew the ex-tennis player would turn around and say something. Katsu reached up and fixed his glasses, smirking like a boss when Hiyoshi turned around to say, "Your glasses are crooked."

Hiyoshi looked at him over his shoulder to say those words, saw Katsu's perfect glasses, and smirked. "You catch on quick, not Hiyoshi."

"Die," Katsu replied. He wondered if Harada had a nail file he could use to slit Hiyoshi's throat in his sleep.

.

"The heat is fixed!" Harada shouted as he walked into the dorm room. Katsu tugged his head phones out only to have Harada repeat the exclamation an inch away from his ear. Katsu shoved the tall boy away, and then rubbed his ear.

"Way to make me deaf," Katsu muttered.

Harada grinned and sat down on his bed. "I don't care if you're deaf. The heat is fixed, Ohtori assured me Hiyoshi will not kill us, and we're getting sushi delivered tonight."

"You mean you're going to bully people into giving you money to order sushi," Katsu corrected.

"Same difference."

Katsu rolled his eyes and looked back down at the calendar on the desk. Maybe he could convince the soccer team to let him use the weight room on Monday...

"While I was talking to Ohtori, he said some pretty interesting things," Harada said.

Katsu sighed and turned in the chair. With a voice like a robot, he said, "Please, Hara, tell me more."

"Alright, I will." Katsu rolled his eyes again as the brunet continued. "He said that he thinks you and Hiyoshi could be good friends."

"Why would I want to be friends with him?"

Harada gave an awkward lopsided shrug. "Just saying. The guy thinks you two should just get over whatever" —he made a vague hand gesture— "you two are stuck up on."

"Maybe, _maybe_ I could consider not hating him if I knew why he quit the tennis team."

"Not telling."

"I know it was an injury, I know it has to do with those scars, and I know it wasn't just a fall. It's only a matter of time before I figure it out."

"But if you can figure it out then I don't need to tell you." Harada reached to the floor and picked up his school bag. "Time for your favorite subject: calculus!"

"Bite me."

"Sorry, Kat, I don't like kinky stuff."

Katsu hit his head against his desk.

.

Katsu walked into the second floor common room and saw Aoki, Ikeda, and Ohtori huddled around something. He walked over and playfully snatched the magazine they were looking at.

"I didn't know you looked at porn, Ohtori," Katsu said, holding the magazine above his head. Ohtori and Aoki looked panicked, but Ikeda simply smirked.

"Go ahead, look at it, Katsu-_buchou_," Ikead said. He hissed out the last part like Katsu was spouting ten lime green extra arms out his butt.

Katsu pulled the magazine in front of his faced, his mind registering what he saw in stages: sports porn, not sports porn, sports magazine, article about Hyotei tennis club, _what is this monkey crap?_

Katsu tossed the magazine at Ikeda then stormed to his room. The title of the article was still stuck in the front of his mind.

_The Fall of Hyotei: the Captaincy of Katsu Ren_

.

Katsu knew that he wasn't meant to be captain. Since junior high, Hiyoshi was destined to be the captain of the high school team. If something hadn't gone horribly wrong, if Hiyoshi hadn't quit, that would have happened.

"Today we will be doing—" Katsu stopped and looked over at Ohtori. "What are we doing today?"

"Serving drills," Ohtori replied quietly.

Katsu nodded and looked back out at the club. His stomach jerked and his legs twitched. "Right. Today we will be doing serving drills. Split into groups of, uh, six, I guess, and pick a court. Then serve or... something."

Katsu waved his hands and stood rooted in his spot until everyone was focused on the assignment. When that happened, he turned and high tailed it to the bathroom. He was going to be sick. He couldn't handle this. He could never handle this. He was a failure as a captain.

And it was Hiyoshi's fault.

.

Katsu was lying on the sofa in the common room even though it was well past midnight. He couldn't sleep for his dreams were plagued with Hiyoshi's scars and Atobe's disappointed face.

He heard a door open and saw a stream of light fill the room. He sat up just in time to see Hiyoshi walking towards him with a balled up blanket in his arms. The mushroom-haired boy stopped in front of the sofa.

"What?" Katsu asked harshly.

"Choutarou wanted to make sure you were okay, but was too embarrassed," Hiyoshi said, his eyes not quite meeting Katsu's. He held out the blanket, his head turned the other way. "Here. Take it so he'll shut up and I can go back to sleep."

Katsu grasped the blanket, which fell around his legs when Hiyoshi let go. Katsu pooled the fabric in his lap and asked, "How did Ohtori know I was out here? I don't even have the light on."

"He doesn't sleep sometimes. He gets nightmares." Hiyoshi shifted uncomfortably then turned around to return to his room.

"You should at least say good night, jackass," Katsu hissed.

"Good night, jackass."

"That's not what I meant."

"Too bad."

Hiyoshi shut the door to 2C behind him and a few minutes later the light was turned off. Katsu wrapped the blanket around him and wondered why Hiyoshi had been lying. It was obvious that Ohtori didn't get nightmares, Hiyoshi did.

.

Harada posted a schedule on the bulletin board a few weeks before winter break began. Students were allowed to go home for the winter break if they so desired, but there were forms that needed to be filled out and people who needed to be contacted. It was a pain in the butt for floor advisors like Harada.

Harada collapsed into a beanbag near Katsu's; Aoki and Ohtori sat in the other two seats.

"You guys better be staying over break," Harada said. "If not, I'll give you detention."

"I'm going home to visit my sister and brother-in-law," Ohtori said. "Am I really going to get detention?"

Harada looked around and then shook his head. "Nah. I only say that so Ikeda will shut up."

"He thinks you hate him," Aoki said.

"I do."

"That would explain a lot."

Harada grinned toothily before asking, "You staying here, Aoki?"

The freckled boy nodded. "Yup. My parents are going to visit my aunt and uncle, and I don't really like them so I made up some excuse about having homework to stay here. Ikeda's going."

"Woot, woot!" Harada shouted.

"I'm staying," Katsu said. As casually as possible, he asked, "Is Hiyoshi staying?" which probably meant he sounded like a psychopath.

"He never goes home during breaks," Ohtori said.

"Why not?"

Cue a simultaneous awkward shift for Ohtori and Harada, Katsu thought seconds before it happened; Harada scratched his head and Ohtori wiggled in his seat.

"Yeah, I figured that would be the answer," Katsu muttered.

.

Katsu hit the ball one more time. When it went out, he tossed his racquet to the ground and sat down. He was the only one on the court, which meant he could say all the words Ohtori usually gasped at, but he didn't. He couldn't get that move to work and nothing he said was going to change that.

He heard footsteps so he looked up, expecting to see Harada or Ohtori. He saw a school uniform and mushroom hair. Of course it was Hiyoshi, that was his luck.

"Come here to laugh?" Katsu hissed. "Go ahead."

"Why would I laugh?" Hiyoshi sounded serious, but Katsu knew he had to have some dark intention. Katsu's hazel eyes followed the boy as he sat down next to him and leaned back on his hands. "What move is that? I don't remember it."

"You remember my tennis?" Katsu asked dumbly.

"From first year and the earlier practices. It's... alright. You don't completely suck."

Katsu took a few seconds to respond, slightly taken aback. "Mercury's Wrath. It's a smash like Pluto Plummet, only it's more wrath-ish-y-like."

"Wrath-ish-y-like," Hiyoshi repeated with a straight face.

"Yes. Wrath-ish-y-like."

"Right."

"Why are you here? You quit tennis. I assumed that meant not stepping on a tennis court without fear of being smitten down."

"I can still play. I just chose not to."

"So you can watch me stumble my way through captaincy?"

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes. "That's obviously why I quit tennis. Because I wanted you to suffer. Congratulations on figuring that one out, not Hiyoshi."

"Don't call me that." Katsu pulled his legs into his chest and set his head on his knees. Only Hiyoshi could make him feel so small. "And don't treat me like an idiot."

"Are you coming up with a new move because of that stupid article?"

Katsu hugged his legs even tighter. "No."

"You sound like a kid."

Katsu sent Hiyoshi a sharp glare. "I don't care. Shut up." He paused, then childishly added, "You're ugly."

Hiyoshi sighed. "You know that Atobe-san asked me who should be captain last year. He wanted me, of course, but asked my opinion in case I... I said Choutarou, he refused, so then I said you."

"Why?"

"Honestly, you're the only person I remembered in my year besides Choutarou and Kabaji that plays tennis. Since Kabaji graduated early to follow Atobe, that left you." Katsu pressed his face between his knees. Hiyoshi reached over and flicked the back of Katsu's neck. When Katsu looked up, Hiyoshi said, "I'm trying to be helpful, damn it. Don't cry like a girl."

"I'm not crying! I'm just pissed off at everyone and everything. I hate being captain, I hate that everyone thinks I can't do it, and I hate being second to you. So just shut up and go away!"

Hiyoshi didn't move.

"I guess that's why you've been staring at me like you want to kill me for a few months."

"Yeah, it would. Give me a screwdriver and I'll do it right now."

Katsu heard Hiyoshi sigh and stand up. The boy's voice entered his ears and wrapped around his mind, "You shouldn't care what other people think."

Katsu heard one, two, three footsteps before he found the guts to ask, "Then why do you hide your scars?"

Hiyoshi kept walking. He didn't even say "your glasses are crooked."

.

Katsu was officially fed up with his life. He was practically failing calculus, he was apparently the worst captain to lead Hyotei in generations, he could not find his lucky tennis ball, he could not kill the person he hated because he was having erotic dreams about him, and he didn't even know why his enemy had quit tennis.

Everything wrong with the world boiled down to Hiyoshi Wakashi.

With unwarranted courage, he went to the library. Hiyoshi was leaving, a book tucked under his arm and his eyes on the ground. Katsu stormed over, got Hiyoshi to stop walking, and then went blank.

"Are you going to say something?" Hiyoshi asked.

"Give me a second. I didn't think this through."

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes with an, "Of course you didn't."

"I hate you," Katsu said. Hiyoshi nodded once. "And I want to kill you." Another nod and an eye roll. "I want to kill you because I hate you, but I don't know why I hate you. You quit tennis, but why? I can't kill someone without motive. That just seems wrong."

"And the act of murder is perfectly justifiable, is it?"

"Just answer me like a normal human being."

"Why do you care?"

"Because ever since I was made captain, my life has been going down hill. If you hadn't quit, I wouldn't be stuck in this rut. It's your fault. I want to know why you quit so I can hate you without feeling bad about it!"

Hiyoshi tried to walk around Katsu, but the captain grabbed his wrist before he got away.

"No, you are not running away. I've been asking everyone who knows for months and no one will tell me. I'm tired of waiting. So spit it out."

Hiyoshi jerked his arm away. Katsu remembered something about Hiyoshi growing up in a dojo and knowing some serious kung-fu, but he didn't care. He'd face Hiyoshi in a fight if that was what it took to get his answer.

"Don't touch me," Hiyoshi said.

Who was he kidding? Hiyoshi would eat him alive.

"You keep telling me to suck it up and don't listen to others. I'm taking a page from your book and am being stubborn as hell."

Hiyoshi narrowed his brown eyes, his honey-colored hair casting a menacing shadow over his face. "You don't need to know that."

"I don't need to, but I want to."

Hiyoshi took a step forward; Katsu sucked in a breath. "You're not my friend, you're not someone I trust, and you're not me. Therefore, you don't get to know."

"I know I'm not you. I'm stuck in this life because I'm not you."

Something intense and dark spread over Hiyoshi's face. It was primal and raw, and completely out of Katsu's league. Hiyoshi was pissed off.

"You want to be me?" Hiyoshi asked. "That's a joke, right? You don't know the first thing about me. You think that your life is so hard because you're captain of a powerful team. You have no idea how pathetic that sounds to me. You don't know me, Katsu Ren."

Katsu wanted to punch him, to scream, to toss him to the ground and make him feel so good that he admitted his darkest secrets. Rage bubbled in his belly and swept up his mouth.

"Then tell me!" Katsu screamed. "Tell me what's so damn special about you that allows you to treat everyone around you like crap!"

"It was a car accident!"

It took Hiyoshi a few seconds to realize what he had just said. When he did, the anger washed away from his face in an instant. His eyes went wide with panic as he let out a shaky breath of pure terror. He dropped his book, turned, and ran.

Katsu stared. He didn't know what else to do.

.

Several hours later, Katsu knocked on the door to room 2C. Ohtori opened the door, his face changing from excited to disappointed. Katsu obviously wasn't the person he had been expecting, but when was he ever?

"Sorry, I thought you were Wakashi. You don't happen to know where he is, do you? He isn't answering his phone and I haven't seen him since he left for the library..."

Katsu swallowed thickly. "Can I, uh, come in?"

Ohtori nodded and moved to the side. He closed the door and sat down on the bottom bunk, Hiyoshi's bed. Katsu sat at the desk chair, his fingers gripping his jeans restlessly.

"Are you okay?" Ohtori asked. "You seem ill. Do you want me to get Harada? Or maybe I should take you to the nurse?"

"I'm fine." Katsu let out a deep breath. "Look, I kinda of flipped on Hiyoshi. I was like a monkey on LSD. We were yelling and he said something, and then he left."

Ohtori furrowed his brow, grabbing his cross and twirling it. "What did he say?"

Nails and pins stabbed at his gut. He wasn't this anxious when he had to announce to the team that he was captain.

"Can you tell me what happened to him?" Katsu asked.

"He doesn't like people to know."

"I know it was a car accident, okay? Just—just tell me how he got those scars. That's an order from your captain."

Ohtori hesitated, then nodded. "You might want to sit."

"I am sitting."

"Oh, right." Ohtori's voice was soft when he began, still twirling his silver cross, "Wakashi's older brother had just gotten engaged so he picked up Wakashi to go out and celebrate. They were coming around a turn when a truck came over a hill."

Katsu felt his chest tighten like someone was squeezing his ribs.

"I—I don't really know what happened," Ohtori admitted. "Wakashi doesn't talk about it."

"Was he okay?" Katsu didn't know who "he" was supposed to be referring to. He wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

"Wakashi got—" Ohtori shifted uncomfortably, afraid to say the word. Eventually, he said, "Something went through his chest. It went the whole way through at some parts, but not through his spinal cord."

_Wakashi got skewered._

"He was in the hospital for months," Ohtori went on. "They didn't think he was going to live for awhile. He would wake up and go into shock. When he slept, he had these night terrors. He was sedated most of the time and was in surgeries the rest. Didn't you realize he was missing at the beginning of last year?"

No. Why hadn't he noticed?

Katsu hesitated before asking, "And his brother?"

Ohtori looked at the ground. "He—he was killed on impact. I think he turned the car at the last minute so Wakashi wouldn't be hit head on."

How, _why_ didn't he notice?

Katsu's mouth filled with sand and his heart began to pump nails through his veins. There was too much going on his mind for him to think straight. Hiyoshi Wakashi should be dead.

Guilt, concern, hatred, and compassion swam in his thoughts like sharks on the hunt. Nausea grew in his stomach and his mouth filled with spit so quickly that he felt like he was drowning.

"I'm sorry," Katsu sputtered. "I'm sorry."

He put one hand to his mouth, the other to his stomach, and left the room in a blur. He slammed his dorm door opened, ignored Harada, and locked the bathroom door shut behind him.

Harada rapped on the door, asking, "Kat? You okay?"

Katsu wondered how the idiot wanted him to answer when he had his head in the toilet. After emptying his stomach three times over, he sat with his back against the wall and a towel to his mouth.

"Kat, I'm opening the door!" Harada opened the door with his master key a few seconds later. He swore, then knelt down next to Katsu. "You're pale. What happened to you? Did Atobe corner you or something for ruining his legacy?"

"Ohtori told me. He told me what happened to Hiyoshi." Katsu curled forward and felt Harada put a hand on his back. "I'm horrible. I treated him like crap. He nearly died and I—"

"Don't blame yourself. What happened, happened."

Katsu felt his stomach lurch forward. He broke away from Harada's comforting hand and grabbed the edges of the toilet. Hiyoshi's scars flashed in his mind as he recalled every cruel thing he had said to the boy.

He no longer knew what to think about the scarred boy, about Hiyoshi Wakashi.

* * *

**A/N: I've had the idea of Hiyoshi being in a car accident since I wrote _The Love Bug_. In that story, this was the plot I never got to, Hiyoshi being scarred from a car accident. My head-canon of Hiyoshi always includes those scars. (My head-canon also includes Katsu now but let's not talk about that 'kaythanksbye.)**


	3. Winter

**WINTER**

Winter never felt so cold. The trees were covered with ice and the grass was covered in patches of snow. Half the campus had gone home to their loving families. Harada, Katsu, and Aoki spent most of their days in the common room playing games. The only other person on the second floor who hadn't left for home was Hiyoshi, but he spent his days cooped up in his room only coming out for food at strange times.

Katsu realized something was wrong when Aoki offered him some of his mom's homemade cookies, the kind that looked like they would melt in your mouth, and Katsu turned them down. Katsu knew they'd taste like crap, because everything seemed like crap lately and he didn't even know why.

Katsu figured a long walk around campus would help clear his mind. He was wrong. His fingers were cold, his nose was running, and he felt more confused the more he thought about it.

He was on his way back to the dorm to take a hot bath when he saw someone leave the library. He recognized their honey-colored hair, their knitted scarf, and their posture.

"Hiyoshi!" Katsu called out.

The boy looked up, then down at the ground. He walked by Katsu without saying a word. The air was cold as it wrapped around Katsu like ice.

.

Harada was sitting on the floor wrapping boxes in obnoxiously bright colored papers that made Katsu's eyes hurt. The tennis captain had taken off his glasses, but without them he couldn't work on the extra practice his calculus teacher gave him to catch up with the rest of the class. Calculus or not being blinded... It was a tough choice, but he preferred the latter.

"I didn't get anyone presents," Katsu muttered. "I knew Ohtori would give stuff out since he's Christian so I was going to get something for him."

Harada shrugged. "I'm just giving everyone those new scarves from the book store."

"Thanks for telling me my present, jerk."

"I didn't get you a scarf. I actually tried to put some effort into the gift I'm giving my best friend."

"This is not making me any better about being cheap and rude. I got something for you, but I always get you something."

"I expect a gift from you until the day I die." Harada ripped a long piece of tape and placed it on top of the neon orange wrapping paper. "If you feel bad, go buy some stuff. The book store is still open. You could rush order something online."

"Who did you get stuff for?"

"You, obviously, then Aoki, Ohtori, Hiyoshi, some guys on the swim team — that's it, really."

"Crap. That's enough for me to feel bad. I'm going out. Maybe I can find something at the book store." Katsu shoved his glasses back onto his face and rolled out of bed.

"That's the spirit!"

Katsu tugged on a sweatshirt and pulled on a pair of sneakers. He headed down the stairs and tugged his hood up over his short black hair. The paths were cleared of ice and salted so he probably wouldn't break his neck and unintentionally pee his pants. Key word: probably.

He thought about everyone he needed to buy something for. He had already sent presents to his parents and he had Harada's for weeks. That left Aoki, Ohtori (he'd give it to him when he returned from break), and possibly Hiyoshi. He hadn't talked to the scarred boy since that night, and he didn't know what the policy on buying gifts for your archenemy-who-you-feel-sympathy-for was.

He headed into the book store and bought a new pair of gloves for Aoki and a tennis team mug for Ohtori. He walked up to the counter, which was run by a very bored looking third year girl.

"That all?" the girl asked.

Katsu nodded. Then, something caught his eye.

.

Harada came into the common room with a tray of tea, approaching the boys who were sitting on the sofa. He shoved a mug into Katsu's hands; Katsu's mouth fell open and he set the mug down on the table.

"Ow, ow, _ow,_" he muttered, licking his palms shamelessly. Aoki laughed, then denied the mug Harada offered him with a look of fear.

Harada set the tray down on the coffee table, then sat on the sofa next to Katsu and slung his arm over the back cushion. "You guys wanna do all our gifts on Christmas morning then head down to the cafeteria? I heard they're making red and green pancakes."

"Yummy," Aoki said. "I meant, yes."

Harada grinned. "Kat?"

"Huh? Yeah." He hesitated. He was so going to regret asking, but he couldn't help it. "Shouldn't we run it by Hiyoshi?"

"I'll send him an email," Harada said.

"Is he alright?" Aoki asked. "I only see him at the weirdest times."

"We, uh, had a fight," Katsu said. Like a fool, he continued to ramble. "About tennis. It was really bad. I think he's still kinda mad at me."

"You guys take tennis _way_ too seriously," Aoki said. Without a moment of pause, he asked, "Who's up for some TV?"

Katsu grabbed his mug of tea, lazily sipping at it as he sunk lower and lower into the sofa.

.

Katsu trekked over to the library through a flurry of snow. When he walked inside the building, he dusted the flakes of white snow out of his black hair and stomped his feet dry on the mat. He headed to the back where the mystery section was.

Hiyoshi was sitting in a chair, his shoes on the ground and his sock-clad feet tugged up onto the chair. When Katsu approached, he made sure he was loud enough that Hiyoshi could hear him. The boy looked up from his book when Katsu sat in the chair on the other side of the side-table.

"Are you, like, mad at me or something?" Katsu asked bluntly. His heart pounded and stomach turned. He was not a confrontational person. He'd rather be given another tattoo by Atobe than talk to Hiyoshi about this.

Hiyoshi waited a moment before slowly responding, "I'm not mad."

"Then why are you ignoring me?"

Hiyoshi's eyebrows raised into his hairline. "I thought you would be glad that I wasn't talking to you. You made it pretty clear to me that you don't want anything to do with me."

Katsu suddenly felt very stupid.

"Well," he said dumbly, "I am, but I'm not. I just want to know if you're mad at me because of..."

He figured Hiyoshi was smart enough to fill in the rest.

"I just didn't want to tell you," Hiyoshi said bitterly. "It's not exactly something I tell people."

"You don't trust me?"

"I don't know." Hiyoshi looked lost and confused. "Does it matter?"

"It would make killing you easier."

Hiyoshi took a second to process that, then rolled his eyes. He looked back down at the book in his lap and muttered, "I'm not mad, you idiot."

"Then why do you act like you are?"

Hiyoshi didn't respond.

Katsu sat there for a moment, then stood up and left. He stuck his hands into his pockets as he faced the cold winter night alone.

.

_Ren..._

Katsu woke up. His shirt was covered in sweat and his heart would not stop racing. He remembered flashes of scars and flesh and lips. He curled the fingers of one hand into his bottom so the nails gently dug into the flesh there with just enough force to keep him from going insane with lust. He hadn't been this bad since he was fourteen.

Katsu felt torn. Part of him still remembered his horrible life that Hiyoshi brought about. Another part of him sympathized with the boy with the scars. How could he like someone he hated? It made less sense than Bower's obsession with Peach. Then again, that mushroom head didn't make much sense at all and neither did Katsu.

There was just something about that boy, about Hiyoshi Wakashi.

It was the way Hiyoshi's only half-smiled, like he was afraid to let himself be happy. It was those glances he sent him during summer when he sat on the hill. It was the advice he had given him that made him stronger. It was his UFO doodles and hidden scars. It was everything the boy did.

There was no denying it: Katsu didn't hate Hiyoshi.

.

On Christmas morning, Katsu woke up to an eyeful of Harada's green-and-red crotch. Katsu rolled against the wall, away from Harada's boxers. He covered his hazel eyes and pleaded, "Please tell me this is not my Christmas gift."

Harada laughed. "Come on. Aoki's already awake and he's waiting for us."

Katsu watched through the holes in his fingers; Harada grabbed a bag from next to the desk and left the room while humming a cheerful tune. The captain grabbed his black glasses from his nightstand, retrieved his bag of newspaper-wrapped gifts from his cabinet, then headed into the common room.

Harada was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa like a child. Katsu rolled his eyes and sat on the sofa a few feet away from Aoki. There was something weird about three boys sitting in boxers, but Katsu was too tired to think of a good line for it.

Katsu looked around, his black eyebrows furrowing as he asked, "Where's Hiyoshi?"

"He dropped off Ohtori's gifts then left," Aoki said, gesturing towards the extra boxes sitting on the table. The boy slapped his hands together ecstatically. "Let's get unwrapping!"

Katsu and Harada exchanged their gifts. When they opened them at the same time, they laughed. They were each holding a large box of fireworks.

"We got each other the same thing," Harada said, grinning. He put a hand over his heart. "You know me so well, Kat."

"Oh, shut up, Hara," Kasu replied. He was smiling, though. "We have to set these off on New Year's."

"Hell yeah we are."

"Here," Aoki said, tossing them boxes.

By the time they were finished, Katsu had his box of fireworks, some new tennis balls from Aoki, an assortment of sweets from Ohtori, and a sweater and some of his mom's fudge from his parents. Katsu still had two boxes in his bag — one for Ohtori and one for Hiyoshi.

"Kat," Harada said, examining the box of chocolate Ohtori had given him, "did you get something for Hiyoshi? I'm leaving mine outside his room."

"Ditto," Aoki said, waving a small wrapped package.

Katsu said, "Nah. I just have Ohtori's gift."

Harada nodded, grabbing his and Aoki's gifts for Hiyoshi and placing them outside the door to 2C. Katsu didn't know why he had lied.

.

Katsu's stomach was full of hot chocolate and cookies when Harada and Aoki called it a night. Katsu stayed seated on the sofa and waited for them to leave. Once they had, he craned his neck to look at Hiyoshi's door and noticed the presents were gone. He stood up, grabbed a box out of his bag of gifts, and walked to room 2C. He knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Hiyoshi asked.

"Me," Katsu replied. "Uh, Katsu."

Hiyoshi opened the door a moment later with a sharp, "What?"

Katsu held up his box. "Here."

Hiyoshi eyed him for a moment, as if mentally debating if the box was rigged to explode (Katsu wished he would have thought of that sooner because that would have worked!), and then grabbed the box. He held it at his side, eyes locked on Katsu.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Katsu asked.

"Will you leave if I do?"

"What do you think? Yes, you idiot."

Hiyoshi sighed and leaned against the door frame. He tore off the newspaper wrapping and opened the small cardboard box underneath. He reached inside and pulled out a Hyotei-blue aline with huge black eyes and no mouth. Hiyoshi turned it around, studying it, then set it back in the box.

"I opened it," Hiyoshi said softly, "so go."

Katsu nodded again. "Alright. Merry Christmas."

Hiyoshi closed the door. Through the wood, Katsu heard, "Merry Christmas, not Hiyoshi."

Katsu returned to his room with a smile, wondering if he was out of his mind.

.

Katsu was lying in bed when he heard the TV in the common room click on. He rolled out of bed, shoved his glasses over his hazel eyes, and and left his room. He walked towards the sofa, holding a hand over his mouth as he yawned. He got spit on his palm. Ew.

"Hiyoshi?" Katsu muttered, spotting the boy's mushroom hair. "It's, like, two in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep." Hiyoshi pressed a button on the remote. "What's your excuse?"

"I chugged a soda during dinner and got all hyped up on caffeine. I can't handle that stuff." He walked around the sofa and sat next to Hiyoshi. Katsu put his bare feet up onto the coffee table. "You?"

"I'm not answering that," Hiyoshi responded. He stopped the channel on some sci-fi show.

"Technically you did respond to my question, which means it was an answer."

"Smart ass."

"Guilty."

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Katsu glanced at his torso, his mind remembering what was hidden behind the t-shirt, the awful rugged scars.

"Stop staring," Hiyoshi grumbled. Katsu forced himself to stare at the screen. Was he that obvious? "I know Choutarou told you about me, but that doesn't change anything. You don't have to be nice to me."

"Who said I was being nice to you?" Katsu sounded offended and Hiyoshi picked up on that judging by the way his facial expression changed.

"You gave me a Christmas present and you don't carry around that notebook of One Hundred Ways to Kill Hiyoshi anymore."

"I actually only got to fifty seven."

Hiyoshi's shoulders dropped and his eyes narrowed. "You get my point. You don't need to be nice to me out of pity. If I wanted that, I would tell everyone what you know."

What he knew. The car accident, his brother dying, him surviving but being scarred.

"Do you want me to go back to figuring out how to train monkeys to kill you?" Katsu asked. "It was number thirty-two."

"Whatever," Hiyoshi replied.

Hiyoshi turned his attention back to the sci-fi show. It was obvious he was trying to act like he didn't care, but Katsu saw right through him.

.

Harada was the genius (Katsu wasn't sure whether that was sarcastic or not) who came up with the idea to make snowballs with the snow outside. Harada went outside with an empty pitcher and came back with puffy white snow.

"Did you avoid the black stuff?" Aoki asked as Harada sat on the sofa.

"What do you take me for, an idiot? Wait. Don't answer that."

Harada grabbed a plastic ladle off the coffee table and a cup. He scooped snow into the cup, which he handed to Katsu. The tennis captain poured soda into the cup, set the can on the table, and grabbed a spoon.

"One of your best ideas ever," Aoki said, taking his cup of snow. He poured juice onto his, turning the snow bright red.

A door opened, and Katsu and Harada turned their heads at the same time. Hiyoshi had walked out of his room and was approaching the three boys. He sat next to Katsu, who was paralyzed. What the what?

"Look who decided to come out before midnight!" Aoki said, joking. Hiyoshi didn't look amused at all. In fact, he looked like he could take on a bear and Atobe at the same time.

"Want a snoda-ball?" Harada asked.

Hiyoshi furrowed his brow. "What?"

"A snowball made of soda and snow," Harada explained. He grabbed another cup, filled it with snow, and handed it to Hiyoshi. The tall boy gestured to the drinks on the table. "Pick your poison."

Hiyoshi grabbed a half-empty can of soda, the one Katsu had used, and poured it over the snow.

"You like vanilla coke?" Katsu asked, mixing the contents of his cup like an awkward duck.

"Yeah," Hiyoshi replied.

Harada's grin was pure evil. With as much enthusiasm as a hyperactive chihuahua, he said, "You two have something in common!"

Hiyoshi and Katsu exchanged a perturbed look, both telepathically understanding Harada's embarrassing, insane ways. Katsu smiled and he could have sworn he saw a shadow of a grin on Hiyoshi's face.

.

Katsu called Ohtori one evening to work out a practice schedule. They wouldn't be able to use the courts for quit some time, but they could use the inside gym for regulars-only conditioning.

"Sounds like a plan," Katsu said once they were done. "I guess I'll see you when you come back in two weeks?"

"Yeah, we'll talk then!" Ohtori replied cheerfully. Before Kastu hung up, he heard, "Um, Katsu?"

"What is it?"

"Could you do me a favor and check on Wakashi?"

Katsu tilted the desk chair on its back two legs, rocking it back and forth. "Why?"

He heard Ohtori's signature worried tone. "His parents always give him a hard time about not coming home for the holidays. Since his brother — well, it's been hard on the dojo. Could you please make sure he's okay and tell him to text me?"

Katsu sighed. "Fine. But only because I'm such a nice guy."

"Thank you! I'll talk to you in a few weeks!"

Katsu hung up his cellphone. He leaned a little farther back in the chair. That last tip was what pushed his balance in the wrong direction. He flailed to grab onto the desk but failed, and flew backwards, hitting his head against his dorm room floor.

"Ow," Katsu grumbled as he stood up and picked up his chair. "The things I do for this kid."

He left his room and headed to 2C. He knocked on the door, which Hiyoshi opened seconds later.

"Choutarou called you, didn't he?" Hiyoshi asked.

Bull's eye.

"Uh, what are you on?" Katsu replied. He forced a fake laugh. "Choutarou call me. That's a good one." He followed with more awkward villain laughing.

"I know he called you. He sent me a text message threatening to get you to come check on me if I didn't respond."

"So why haven't you responded?"

"How many times do you think I can respond to 'what's up?'"

Katsu shrugged. He was shorter than Hiyoshi by a few inches, but he was tall enough to see over his shoulder. He spotted Hiyoshi's desk, which had a little blue alien on it. Katsu smirked smugly.

"You know that alien has a camera in its eye so I can watch you do all sorts of things," Katsu said. "I'm discovering your weaknesses so I can complete my mission. You won't even know what hit you."

"What were you planning on seeing?" Hiyoshi asked it in such a way that Katsu felt perverted. What did he have to say to get a reaction out of this kid?

"Just tell Ohtori you're okay. You're going to give the guy a panic attack."

"Fine," Hiyoshi sighed. His brown eyes fixated on Katsu's face. "Your glasses are crooked."

Katsu reached up and fixed his thick framed glasses. "There, are you happy now?"

"I'm satisfied."

"See you later," Katsu said awkwardly. Hiyoshi pressed his lips together and closed the door. Katsu shouted, "Jerk!"

.

On New Year's Eve, Harada and Katsu headed out to the courtyard to set off their fireworks. Aoki came just before they started with a bowl of popcorn and extra blankets. Moments later, Hiyoshi came out, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He sat down on the same blanket as Katsu.

"I call setting off the first one!" Harada said, grabbing some Roman candles, a few mortars, and a pack of matches. He rushed into the open courtyard like a child.

"Got any New Year's resolutions?" Katsu asked, looking at Hiyoshi. "Maybe you could try to pull that stick out of your ass."

"Only if you try to not puke during tennis practice."

Katsu pulled his hand out from under his blanket and shoved Hiyoshi. The boy rocked to the side before sitting up straight.

Aoki appeared at that moment, shoving his bowl of popcorn between the two boys. "Popcorn?"

"No thanks," Hiyoshi replied.

Katsu smirked, grabbed a handful, and tossed it at Hiyoshi. The mushroom boy stared at him, then did the same to Katsu.

Aoki sat on the blanket next to Hiyoshi, causing the boy to wiggle closer to Katsu. The captain moved to the edge of the blanket, but with three of them side-by-side, there wasn't exactly room to spare.

"Hey!" Harada shouted. "Watch!"

Aoki shoved popcorn into his mouth as Harada set off a firework into the sky. It crackled and burst into a rainbow of colors that twisted without restraint. Katsu wrapped his blanket tighter around him as he gazed up at the night sky. Next to him, Hiyoshi flinched with every crack and pop. Katsu shifted closer, their shoulders brushing, and the flinching stopped. The twisting in Katsu's stomach only got worse when Hiyoshi silently shifted closer.

"Happy New Year!" Aoki shouted.

Hiyoshi grumbled "it's not New Year's yet" under his breath and Katsu laughed.

That's when — kill me, Katsu thought — he realized he was falling for the mushroom boy.

.

Harada came out of the bathroom, the steam from his shower drifting out behind him. He plopped onto his bed and stretched out. He turned his head and saw Katsu lying on his bed with his hands under his head.

"Something on your mind?" Harada asked. Katsu grunted. "Calculus or tennis?"

Katsu shook his head and sighed. Harada had been his best friend since they were kids. If there was anyone he could tell, it was him.

"Just don't laugh," Katsu muttered as he sat up.

"When do I ever laugh at you?"

Katsu glared at him. "Only all the time."

Harada sat up, turning on his bed to face Katsu. The tennis captain crossed his legs and grabbed his ankles, his hazel eyes cast downwards.

"What do you do if your whole life you've liked girls, but then you start to have dreams about a guy? Does that make you gay?" Katsu groaned. "Crap, I'm gay, aren't I? I'm a freaking unicorn jumping over a rainbow to reach a gay club on the other side of the road."

"Let me get this straight: you're talking about Hiyoshi, right?"

"Yes. But I still hate him!" Katsu added the last part quickly. "I just — I don't know. I have these dreams, but I still want to break his neck. But at the same time, I don't want to break his neck. Even when I want to break his neck, I want to do other things."

Harada leaned back on his hands. "Are you high?"

"Obviously I've been high since summer."

"Fine, fine. You're sober."

"This is when you give me horrible advice that turns out to be good."

"Alrightie, then. Do you think you only like him because you're still hung up on the whole captain thing?" Harada suggested. "He was supposed to be captain. Now that you're in his shoes, you can sympathize or some crap. Okay, even I have no idea what I'm saying."

"You haven't said I'm a freak for liking guys yet. Well, liking _a_ guy."

"Why the hell would I care if you like guys? I swim side-by-side with muscular dudes in speedos. Half the swim team is gay. Well, not half, but a few. It's weird, but it's not my place to judge."

Slowly, a grin crept onto Harada's lips. "So you and Hiyoshi, huh?"

Katsu fell backwards, nearly hitting his head against the wall. "I hate him!"

"You obviously don't if you're having happy dreams about him."

"He hates me, then."

Harada hummed. "No, he doesn't. I think he's a little freaked out that you know his secret — he nearly strangled me when I told him I knew — but he'll come around."

Katsu shoved a pillow over his face and screamed into it, "_Why is this happening to me?_" Luckily, the pillow muffled his outburst or Aoki or Hiyoshi would have heard.

Even when it came to his feelings, it was still Hiyoshi's fault. Katsu decided that mushroom idiot must have it out for him big time.

.

The four boys were sitting around the windows in the second floor common room. Snow drifted down lazily outside, covering the walks in a fluffy white blanket. Katsu sipped at his tea as he watched Hiyoshi sip at his tea. He had been using his ninja observation skills the past few days and watched Hiyoshi carefully. He felt like a creeper, but he pushed that feeling away.

"Everyone is coming back next week," Harada said with a bit of a sigh. "I don't want Ikeda to come back."

"Try doing tennis practice with him," Katsu replied. "I still catch him trying to correct first years. He is the King of Smug."

"Master of A-holes," Harada said.

"Jester of the Jerks," Aoki added.

The three of them looked at Hiyoshi who raised his eyebrows into his hairline. "What? I'm not insulting him. I hardly know him."

"It's not that hard," Harada said. "You just think of a noble title and add a word. For example, Dane of Douches."

Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea. There was nothing particularly special about the moment, but it was the only time Katsu could ever remember Hiyoshi being so calm without Ohtori around. Or maybe it was the first time that Katsu did not think about killing Hiyoshi.

.

When the other students moved back in the Saturday before classes began, Katsu was sitting alone in his room since Harada was off doing floor advisor stuff (Katsu wasn't listening when Harada told him what that stuff was). He might have pushed off doing his calculus homework until just then. Completely by accident, of course.

He looked up from the puzzle that was series. He heard someone knock on the wall just outside his room. He turned around in his desk chair, raising his black eyebrows when he saw Hiyoshi standing there with a perfectly wrapped gift. Or was it a bomb?

He threw the small package like a ninja star; it landed on Katsu's desk. Katsu picked it up, then gave Hiyoshi a confused look.

"I don't like being indebted to people," Hiyoshi said. When Katsu furrowed his brow, Hiyoshi clarified with, "Your present."

Katsu reluctantly removed the paper, revealing a pack of expensive grip tape, the kind Atobe used. Katsu's eyes went wide. That tape must have cost a ton.

"Uh, thanks, I guess."

But when he looked up, Hiyoshi was already gone.

.

The day classes resumed, Katsu woke up hot and bothered. He took a shower, ignoring Harada's perverted comments when he came out a few minutes later.

"I will shove a pencil into your neck during calc," Katsu threatened when his roommate's comment became impossibly annoying. Harada, of course, laughed and told him to go ahead.

When they did arrive at the dreaded class that was calculus, Katsu glanced at Hiyoshi. The boy was doodling Saturn in the top corner of his notes. Hiyoshi's brown eyes settled on Katsu, who quickly turned his gaze to Harada's neck, which he suddenly became fascinated with.

"Don't gawk, weirdo," Hiyoshi whispered.

"Jerk," Katsu muttered back.

Harada twisted around and shushed them. Before he turned back around, he winked at Katsu, who hit his head against his desk. He decided that every person he came in contact with hated him and made it their life mission to destroy his sanity.

.

Hiyoshi was sitting in the third beanbag as Katsu gave Ohtori his Christmas present. Ohtori unwrapped the mug with a smile, thanking Katsu so many times that Katsu began to wonder how the boy breathed. Ohtori stood up to place the mug on his desk, leaving Katsu and Hiyoshi alone.

"I never got to thank you for the grip tape," Katsu said. "So, you know, thanks and all that stuff."

"You're welcome and all that stuff," Hiyoshi replied.

Ohtori returned seconds later, sitting back down in the beanbag chair. As he talked about his break, Katsu realized Hiyoshi was looking at him the way he was supposed to look at girls — look, look away, look, look away, like a game. It freaked Katsu out and made him happy at the same time.

.

Things were dandy for everyone but Katsu. While everyone was off having snowball fights and making snoda-balls, he was running laps around the gym, listening to Ikeda complain about how stupid indoor practice was.

"Ikeda," Katsu said, twisting his head around, "shut up."

When he looked ahead, he saw a wall, which he ran into a second later. He fell to his butt and groaned. He could already tell tennis practices were not going to go his way. And once again, it was Hiyoshi's fault that he was a captain with headache.

.

Katsu still couldn't get used to the clammy hands and painful chest that took over whenever he saw Hiyoshi. He thought that only happened in movies, but apparently that was a real thing. He wondered which physical effects were from hatred and which were from something else.

He sat on the sofa in the common room and turned on the TV to get away from the mushroom head. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Hiyoshi sat down near him, his arms crossed.

"Why are you here?" Katsu asked.

"I'm done my homework and Ohtori's in the music room."

Cue the awkward silence.

"So, uh, it's cold out, huh?" Katsu said.

"Are you planning on knocking me out and freezing me to death? Because I don't think it's _that_ cold."

Katsu could not tell if Hiyoshi was joking or not. He probably wasn't — when did Hiyoshi ever joke? — but he decided not to assume. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and watched his show.

.

Katsu walked by the tennis courts, breathing into his hands, his hazels eyes lingering on the snow-covered lines. He walked along the lines, kicking the snow out of the way.

He wanted so badly to practice his new move and perfect it. But the move was based on his hatred for Hiyoshi and his need to destroy the boy. Now, he wasn't sure if he could find enough anger in him to perfect Mercury's Wrath.

"You're going to fall and break your neck."

Katsu craned his neck and saw Hiyoshi standing on a swept path. The black-haired boy continued to move away the snow as he asked, "Why do you care? I can't kill you with a broken neck."

"I'll break it for you if ever try to kill me."

Katsu froze and felt a shiver run down his back. He knew Hiyoshi meant that. He walked over to the path, stomping his feet on the cement.

"Your glasses," Hiyoshi said simply before walking past him towards the dorms. Katsu reached up and fixed his glasses, and then followed after the mushroom boy. They stepped around patches of ice, bumping into each other and grabbing the other's arm if they almost fell.

When they reached the dorms, Katsu shoved Hiyoshi into a pile of snow and ran inside, laughing like a mad genius. Hiyoshi put a handful down the back of his shirt in the common room so Katsu figured they were even.

.

Harada plopped down onto his bed after coming back from swim practice. Katsu looked up from his phone for a moment, grunted a hello, then looked back at his phone.

"What's so important that you can't even say a single word?" Harada asked. "Hiyoshi? Aw, are you two texting now?"

"It's Ohtori."

"Two-timing with the roommate. That's a no-no, just like noisy fornication." Katsu made a gagging sound then the tall boy continued, "Tennis stuff?"

"Tennis stuff," Katsu replied. "Also trying to figure out if Hiyoshi is allergic to nuts. I'm thinking about slipping him some in his tea if he doesn't stop talking to me during calc."

"He's helping you."

"I don't need his help."

Harada rolled his eyes. "You are such a child. Besides, I thought you liked him."

"Yes, I am a child. No, I do not like him at this moment."

Harada sighed and stood up. "I'm gonna grab a shower. I smell like chlorine."

Katsu grunted in response and then looked down at his phone screen —_ please stop trying to kill Wakashi. _Ohtori would say that.

.

For some strange reason, Katsu found himself walking back to the dorm with Hiyoshi. Katsu knew the reason why; he had ninja observed Hiyoshi in the library until they "accidentally" bumped into each other on the way out, but he wasn't about to say that to the mushroom head.

Hiyoshi breathed into his hands, rubbing them together as he murmured, "Cold."

"Spring will come soon, hopefully," Katsu replied. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Tennis tournaments."

"You're running out of time to figure out that move, not Hiyoshi."

Katsu shoved him, but caught him by the arm before he fell into the snow. He pulled the honey-haired boy back to his feet and kept walking, the two talking like nothing had happened.

.

Katsu and Hiyoshi were sitting in the common room late at night. Hiyoshi had had another nightmare (or at least that's what Katsu assumed because Hiyoshi never explained why he didn't sleep some nights); Katsu had heard the TV and woken up. For a while, Katsu just complained about how awful shows were this time of night, then switched to complaining about tennis, mentioned a plan to kill Hiyoshi that consisted of a fan and a helicopter, and then became silent.

It was a normal night until the main character on the show was hit by a drunk driver. Hiyoshi did not flinch, did not react, but Katsu's hazel eyes were drawn to Hiyoshi's scarred torso. Even with a blanket and t-shirt covering the skin, Katsu knew what was there.

"You know," Hiyoshi said, "it's rude to stare yet you do it all the time. One day, you're going to accidentally fall on my pencil."

"Is that sexual or threatening?"

"What do you think?" Hiyoshi asked dully.

"Threatening. Got it." Katsu fixed his black glasses and looked back at the show on the TV. "I haven't told anyone about, you know."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?"

Katsu rolled his eyes. "Excuse me, you ass. I'm just trying to be nice."

Hiyoshi didn't respond. Katsu didn't either.

.

Katsu had spent several hours working on Mercury's Wrath. His cellphone had gone off multiple times, calls and texts from Harada and Ohtori going unchecked. When the sun set, he kicked on the court lights, and continued to work. Just a bit more and he could get it. Just a bit more and he would have his move.

One guess on who had to show up and ruin that.

Katsu turned and watched as Hiyoshi walked onto the court, making it impossible to hit another ball. Unless he wanted to hit Hiyoshi, which ordinarily wouldn't have been bad (maybe the mushroom head would slip into a coma if he was lucky), but he wasn't feeling murderous that evening.

"What is it? Did Ohtori send you?"

"He's having a panic attack." Hiyoshi stood in front of Katsu, just a bit taller than the black-haired boy, even to make Katsu feel short. "You should stop making him worry so much."

"And why do you care?"

"Because he's my friend."

That made more sense than anything Katsu had thought of.

Katsu sat down, placing his racquet to the side. Hiyoshi crossed his arms and looked down at him. Katsu smirked. "I'm not leaving until I cool down. That's going to take a few minutes."

"If I leave, you're going to keep practicing."

"Obviously."

Hiyoshi blinked. "Choutarou is having a _panic attack_."

"And he'll be fine once I come back. But if you leave, I'll stay and he'll have to keep panicking. It's quite simple, Hiyoshi."

Hiyoshi sighed, rolled his eyes, then sat down next to Katsu. The mushroom head leaned back on his hands, so Katsu went ahead and mimicked him. They were silent for a while, Katsu letting his body calm down and lose its tension. Although, with Hiyoshi sitting so close, he wasn't sure if his body would do that.

Katsu turned his head to look at Hiyoshi, who was looking right back. With a curious glint in his eyes, Hiyoshi asked, "Did you really hate me just because I quit tennis?"

"Who said I stopped hating you?" Katsu questioned. Hiyoshi's face didn't change. That boy was rock. "Since you quit tennis, I was made captain. I only hate you because of that."

"_Only,_" Hiyoshi replied. Katsu grinned cheekily. "What's so wrong with being captain, anyways?"

Katsu sighed, tilting his bead back so he was looking up at the honey sky. "Because I'm not good at it. I can hardly stand up there without my stomach declaring war on my esophagus. When you compare my tennis to Atobe's, it just falls up short. I'm not fit to be a captain."

Hiyoshi was silent for a moment. Then, he said, "You're really delicate, aren't you?"

"I'm not delicate!" Katsu snapped. Glaring, he set his head straight. But Hiyoshi was grinning and Katsu couldn't hold onto his anger. "You're evil. You just love pushing my buttons, don't you?"

"It's kind of fun. You are delicate, though, just like a girl."

Hiyoshi kept that smug grin on his lips as he reached over with a single hand. He wiggled Katsu's black framed glasses until they were no longer crooked, then pulled his hand back.

"I'm not a girl," Katsu stated bluntly.

Hiyoshi blinked, his cheeks turning pink. So he _was_ human. "I know."

"But you just fixed my glass like I was a girl." Katsu turned his torso so he was leaning on one hand. His other hand went to brush honey hair away from Hiyoshi's shocked eyes. "You let me touch you like I'm a girl."

"You're only insulting yourself, you idiot."

"Do you like me because I'm like a girl?"

Katsu had gotten even closer, his hand pressing against the court on Hiyohi's far side, Katsu's arm pressing against his ribcage. Hiyoshi seemed to be frozen, like winter had spread from his heart to his muscles.

"I don't like you," Hiyoshi muttered. "I don't, okay?"

"I know. You don't like me."

Hiyoshi's eyes flickered to Katsu's lips as the black-haired boy grew closer and closer. Katsu could see the specks of color in his eyes, like flakes of dark chocolate. He could count Hiyoshi's eyelashes...

Katsu didn't hate Hiyoshi, not even a bit, not even at all.

* * *

**A/N: One more chapter :)**


	4. Spring

**SPRING**

Spring came and replaced the icy nights with warm days. Any snowy remnants of winter had melted, replaced by green grass and fresh flowers. The rain came hard and frequent turning shallow dips into vast puddles for stomping.

Katsu dreamt of lips pressing back against his, rough and firm. He dreamt of Hiyoshi's hand in his short hair. He dreamt of a whispered name. He dreamt of the many kisses shared under the cover of night between him and Hiyoshi. And after every dream, he woke up in a different world, one where Hiyoshi acted like those kisses never happened, like the kisses were their little secret.

Katsu sent a ball across the court, huffing when it went out. For the life of him, he could not get his new move to work. Tournaments were coming up and he needed to prove that he was not a failure. If only it was as easy as it seemed.

He groaned and sat down on the court.

_"I don't like you. I don't, okay?"_

_"I know. You don't like me."_

Katsu ran his hands through his black hair, pushing the memory away. Why did he have to kiss Hiyoshi on a tennis court he saw nearly every day? Why did Hiyoshi have to kiss him back? It would have been easier if Hiyoshi had just snapped his neck and put an end to his miserable life. (It was only miserable because of Hiyoshi, but that's beside the point.) Hiyoshi had led him on like a fool.

Katsu stood back up. He had found the rage he needed for his new move.

.

When the tennis team was finally able to use the courts again, Katsu was happy. The gym was cramped and got hot even though only a few of them were in there at a time. Plus the outdoor courts gave him more excuses to hide from his duties and more places to do said hiding.

Katsu started off practice by playing a match with Ohtori, who was an alright (okay, he was horrible) singles player. When the last point was scored, Ohtori was smiling.

"Is that a new move?" Ohtori asked. Katsu nodded. "That's great! It was all — I don't know — it was just —"

"Wrath-ish-y-like," Katsu finished.

"Yes," Ohtori agreed with a smile. Katsu walked up to the net to exchange a sweaty handshake with his vice-captain. Ohtori asked, "Is it the move Wakashi helped you with?"

"He didn't help me," Katsu replied quietly, almost angrily, drawing his hand back. "Did he tell you he did?"

"He mentioned running into you on the courts..."

"That egotistical jerk. He did not help me. He sat there and mocked me, made rude comments, and pretend to be a human instead of the heartless android he really is."

Ohtori's brown eyes filled with concern and confusion, both of which were blissfully, almost ignorantly sincere. "Did something happen between you two?"

_Yes._

"No. Nothing happened."

Katsu walked away, his face hard.

It was in that moment that any doubts about Katsu Ren resting in the tennis members' minds disappeared. Katsu was their captain and he was strong. They just didn't know it was because of Hiyosh, but Katsu did, and it plagued his thoughts.

.

The boys of the second floor were spread out throughout the common room, eating the pizza Harada had bullied everyone into paying for. Harada preferred the term "encouraging" but it was bullying in Katsu's book.

Katsu was going from group to group in search of a box of cheese pizza. Eventually, he found the box, but it was next to Ohtori and Hiyoshi who were in the beanbags. The universe hated him so much it was ridiculous.

He sucked in a deep breath and walked over. He reached across Hiyoshi's chest to get to the box and the boy noticeable tightened up, flinching like he had just been shot.

"Sorry," Katsu muttered, thinking he'd touched Hiyoshi when he hadn't. Katsu tried not to look at the boy, tried to keep his concern hidden, but he must have done a poor job because Hiyoshi was glaring at him.

The mushroom head slid a hand over his stomach, his other hand lifting a can of vanilla coke to his lips. Katsu grabbed his piece of pizza, returned to the sofa where Harada and Aoki were sitting, and tried to forget the look in Hiyoshi's eyes.

.

Katsu stared mindlessly as his lecture notes for calculus, glanced up at the problems on the board, then back at his notes. They had no examples of those problems. His teacher apparently decided to make it physics class and refused to let them use alternative formulas. Just when he was beginning to understand things...

"Hara," Katsu muttered, poking a pencil between Harada's shoulder blades. Harada turned around and Katsu whispered, "Help."

"Position is your normal function, velocity is first derivative, and acceleration is second derivative," Harada said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. He turned back around, leaving Katsu to suffer on his own.

Katsu cast his hazel eyes to Hiyoshi, who had already finished the practice problems and was doodling.

"How do you—?"

Hiyoshi lifted his head and sent a frigid look at Katsu that was so very different from the look he had on the courts that night. "Figure it out yourself."

When Hiyoshi looked back at his notes, Katsu felt like he had just been stabbed with a pencil. He was supposed to kill Hiyoshi, not the other way around, but that was exactly what Hiyoshi was doing. The tables had turned.

.

When Katsu found out Aoki's birthday was coming up, he freaked. He quickly bought a present at the bookstore (a Hyotei shirt was alright, right?) and wrapped it in tissue paper. Harada and he headed over to Ikeda and Aoki's room later that night, poorly wrapped gifts in hand, and had a cups shoved into their hands.

Harada sniffed the contents. "Alcohol?"

Aoki's eyes went wide. "Oh crap. Don't report us. It's just for fun. I mean, it's my birthday!"

"Just this once," Harada said, taking a sip. Katsu and Aoki both knew that if it was Ikeda's birthday and that jerk had alcohol, Harada would bust him.

Katsu and Harada sat in the corner with Aoki, Hiyoshi and Ohtori, who was holding a can of coke. They were all talking and laughing (except for Hiyoshi) when some idiot put porn into the DVD player.

"Gross," Harada muttered, standing up to deal with it.

"I'll help, that player is hard to open," Aoki said, joining Harada as the two went on a quest to stop the porn.

Katsu felt his bladder protest the amount of liquid he had consumed and decided that maybe he shouldn't have had that second cup. He wobbled up to his knees to stand, but fell, spilling his drink onto the floor and falling onto the closest person — Hiyoshi.

He landed with his head on Hiyoshi's stomach. At first, he laughed, but then Hiyoshi shoved Katsu off of him. Katsu hit the floor, his chin rubbing against the carpet.

"Jerk," Katsu muttered. Hiyoshi was already to the door, though, with Ohtori on his tail.

Harada and Aoki sat back down as Katsu sat up, his stomach shifting and bladder still protesting.

"Where'd they go?" Aoki asked. "I gotta thank them for the presents."

Katsu shrugged. Drunk him didn't care. In the morning, after another intoxicated dream filled with hot touches and breathy noises, Katsu cared that Hiyoshi acted like he hated him.

.

Every time Katsu saw Hiyoshi, it seemed worse than the last time. Hiyoshi was jumpy and quiet, more than usual at least. Katsu didn't know what he had expected to happen after that kiss (he still isn't sure why he did it), but it definitely wasn't this, whatever "this" was.

Katsu was sitting on his bed, tossing a tennis ball into the air and catching it. Harada was sitting at the desk, tapping his pencil restlessly against the wood as he watched his roommate.

"Okay, I know we promised not to have any chick flick moments," Harada began, "but what the heck happened with Hiyoshi and you? What did you do to piss him off? You two were getting along and then —_ bam_. Awkward tension."

"This counts a chick flick moment," Katsu replied dully. "So I have the right to refuse to answer."

"I don't get why you like him because he's a he and he's a bit of a freak."

"You're not helping your case."

"But the dude likes you, which is even weirder because you're an even bigger freak." That's when Katsu chucked the tennis ball at his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You called me a freak."

"I always call you a freak."

Katsu let out a heavy sigh. "Can we stop talking about this?"

"Only once you tell me what happened."

"You are a pain in my ass," Katsu murmured. He ran a hand through his messy black hair, trying to find a way to word his thoughts without sounding perverted, desperate, insane, or psychopathic. He settled with, "I don't hate him. I just—"

Katsu sighed, frustrated and pissed off.

"You should talk to him," Harada suggested. "Make it into a chick flick moment like this. Act like the gay boy you are. Did I ever tell you that I wasn't surprised that Hiyoshi was gay?"

"I'm going to bed."

He heard Harada stand up and say, "I'm gonna do a few laps around the pool. Be back in a few. I'll bring you back some chocolate for your period."

As Harada left, Katsu snapped, "Shut up, Hara!" The door shut as Harada laughed.

Katsu dreamt of the kisses that Hiyoshi pretended never happened.

.

Katsu was lying on his bed to go to sleep when his phone rang. He grabbed his phone off the nightstand, checked the screen to see who was calling, then pressed the device to his ear. He heard footsteps and the faint patter of running water.

"What is it, Ohtori? It's eleven at night," Katsu muttered.

"I haven't had the chance to call you all day. Wakashi's been sticking to me like glue so I won't call you, but he's in the shower now. Katsu-buchou, he's—" Ohtori sucked in a panicked breath.

Katsu sat up, his black eyebrows pushing together. "Ohtori, tell me what's wrong with Hiyoshi. Is he okay? Hara's at the pool, but I can call him."

"No, no!" Ohtori said quickly. The sound of the shower stopped. "I mean, he was like this last year, but it seems worse this time and I don't know what to do."

"What happened today?"

"It's his brother's birthday."

Katsu's mind went straight into overdrive. He hung up, grabbed his glasses, and left his room. That explained a heck of a lot — Hiyoshi ignoring him, being hyperaware of everything that touched his stomach, and storming out of Aoki's party. Hiyoshi was thinking about the accident, about his older brother.

A thought of panic struck Katsu like lightening. If Hiyoshi killed himself while in the throws of depression over losing his brother, Katsu was going to find a way to bring him back to life and kill that mushroom head himself. No one but he could kill Hiyoshi Wakashi.

Katsu opened the door to 2C. Ohtori was standing in the middle of the room like he had been pacing. Hiyoshi was standing just outside the bathroom door in a pair of sweat pants, his shirt pulled over his arms but not yet his head.

"You," Katsu hissed, walking towards him. Hiyoshi seemed to have frozen in shock. "I order you to not kill yourself! That's my job! And possibly monkeys'."

Hiyoshi turned his head so he was looking at Ohtori. His face twisted into something cold and harsh. Ohtori smiled nervously, said, "I-I'll leave now," and then awkwardly segued out of the room.

Hiyoshi dropped his shirt to the floor as walked over to the door, shutting it and locking it. The cold glare he had given Ohtori was focused on Katsu now.

"Go away," Hiyoshi ordered.

"You just locked the door," Katsu replied. Hiyoshi's shoulders visible tensed at his smart remark. In less than a second, Katsu's mind went_ oh, crap_.

"You and Choutarou need to stop butting into my life."

"I wouldn't have to butt in if you talked like a normal person. In case you haven't noticed, you've always been a bit of an antisocial freak."

Katsu wished his mouth would just stayed closed.

Hiyoshi huffed. "You're one to talk. You planned on killing me for months. You hated me for no reason. If anyone's a freak, it's you!"

"Don't turn this around on me. You're the one who didn't tell me it was your brother's birthday."

"Because it doesn't matter if today's his birthday."

"If it doesn't matter, why do you look so sad?" Katsu took a step forward and Hiyoshi took a step back. "Hiyoshi, come on. Whatever the hell this is is not going to work if you don't talk."

"There is nothing to work. Besides, you're a hypocrite," Hiyoshi replied sharply. "When do you ever talk? Half the things that come out of your mouth are sarcastic and the other half are complaints. You don't talk, you whine."

"Get over yourself! You think you're so much better than everyone else because of what you went through. You think you're so strong and brave, but in reality, you're weak and alone! You don't trust anybody, not even Ohtori."

"Don't tell me who I trust because I trust Choutarou more than you. At least he isn't some wannabe captain screaming in my face because he thinks he knows me."

"I thought I know you," Katsu said. His mind flashed to lips and forgotten kisses. He dropped his head, his glasses slipping slightly. "I thought I knew you when I kissed you."

"Don't bring that up!" Katsu lifted his head and saw Hiyoshi's face flush. "That never happened."

"I'm pretty sure it did."

"No, it didn't!" Hiyoshi marched over to the bunk beds, lying down on the bottom bed. He turned his bare back to Katsu, and then muttered, "Get out of my room. Lock the door behind you."

Normally, Katsu would tuck his tail between his legs and leave, but not this time. He walked over to Hiyoshi's bed. Hiyoshi repeated the order to leave. Katsu ignored him, sitting down on the edge.

"This is going to be cheesy and all, but listen, you stupid mushroom head," Katsu sighed. "I know it must have sucked losing your brother and being hurt, and I'm not pretend to get that. Honestly, just thinking about it makes me want to throw up. I don't understand it, but I want to because it's part of you, as lame as you are.

"I don't know if you want me to stay or not, but when I kissed you, you kissed me back. So if you do want me to stick around and try to get over my urge to strangle you in your sleep, you should try being a little nicer to me. I'm not going to hurt you — actually, that might be a lie because I still like my monkey plan. Point is: I'll try not to hurt you just yet."

Katsu hesitantly put a hand on Hiyoshi's shoulder, well aware that it was probably a death sentence.

He was right.

Hiyoshi reached up and grabbed Katsu's wrist. The next thing he knew, he was being spun in some crazy way and found himself face down on the floor. Hiyoshi settled back down in his bed, keeping his back to Katsu; there were scars littering his back too.

"Don't use kung-fu on me!" Katsu shouted. He sat up and rubbed his cheek. "That _hurt._"

"That's the point," Hiyoshi grumbled. "Get out or I'll do it again."

"You really want me to get out? If you really wanted for me to leave, you would have carried me out of here when I first came in. And that—" he pointed to the Hyotei-blue alien sitting on Hiysohi's desk that Katsu had given him for Christmas "—would be in the trash."

"You're talking nonsense."

Katsu stood up, put his hand on Hiyoshi's shoulder, and pushed the boy onto his back. "If you really wanted me to leave, you shouldn't have kissed me back then. If you wanted me out of your life, you wouldn't even be talking to me."

Hiyoshi looked like his mind was searching for a decent response, but he didn't say anything.

Katsu sat down on the edge of the bed and took his hand off of Hiyoshi's shoulder. He wondered if he was insane. Why was he going through so many hoops to get to Hiyoshi?

"If you don't want to talk, I can't make you, but..." Katsu trailed off, his hazel eyes lingering on Hiyoshi's face. "But if you want, I'll listen."

Hiyoshi remained silent, but Katsu didn't move. He waited, sitting there quietly while Hiyoshi breathed in and out, completely alive.

"He would have been twenty-three," Hiyoshi whispered. His voice was as soft as a breath. He tilted his head towards Katsu's body, half his face pressed against the pillow. "Your glasses are crooked."

Katsu reached up to fix his glasses. When he brought his hand down, his fingers brushed against Hiyoshi's side. He felt smooth skin, scarred skin.

Hiyoshi's chest was marred. Most of his scars were small and would have been invisible if the larger scar was not present. That scar, the one from the accident, marked Hiyoshi, drawing anyone's eyes to the smaller scars in an attempt to stop staring.

"They're not all from the accident," Hiyoshi said. He was looking up at Katsu now, who was staring at Hiyoshi's bare stomach. "Just the one."

Katsu pressed a hand to Hiyoshi's scarred belly. Hiyoshi's stomach dipped underneath his touch, but Katsu didn't move his hand. His skin was warm and his muscles fluttered beneath his butterfly touch.

Katsu gently ran his dark fingers over a small scar near Hiyoshi's belly button that was a few shades lighter than Hiyoshi's normal skin color.

"How'd you get this one?" Katsu asked.

"When I was six, my brother flew our kite into a tree so I decided to climb up and get it," Hiyoshi said. "I fell."

Katsu moved his fingers to where Hiyoshi's hip jetted out. At the waistline of his pants was a horizontal, thin scar. He tapped the imperfection with the tips of his fingers.

"My brother and I decided to take our father's swords and duel. My brother got me there, but I got his arm. Our mother was so mad."

Katsu felt a smile tickle at his lips. He moved his hand to one at the end of Hiyoshi's ribcage. It was a circular scar, tiny and barely noticeable. Katsu would not have seen it if he had not remembered why Hiyoshi got it.

"Tennis trip during out second year in junior high," Hiyoshi said.

"I remember this one," Katsu said.

"How? It was a regulars camping trip."

"I was a pre-regular." Katsu pressed his palm to the small scar, his fingers ghosting over the larger scar that marred Hiyoshi. "Mukahi pushed you during a hike. You tumbled down this hill and fell onto a rock. Atobe called in a helicopter for you even though there was a hospital half a mile away."

Katsu moved his feather-light touch to each scar from Hiyoshi's appendicectomy to trying to jump the fence like his brother. Half the stories began with "my brother and I," but Katsu didn't say anything. He just listened and moved his hand from scar to scar.

The last scar Katsu laid his hand on was the largest. It ran diagonally across his gut and varied in width. It was the lightest of them all, the newest. He ran his hand over the elongated scar and felt Hiyoshi shiver under him.

"I'm sorry," Katsu breathed, his palm resting on Hiyoshi's belly button. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. You must have been so scared..."

Hiyoshi's head turned to the side as he slid a hand over Katsu's. Hiyoshi grasped Katsu's hand and said something. His words were muffled by the pillow so Katsu didn't hear them.

_It wasn't as scary as this._

"What did you say?" Katsu asked. He lied down on his side, his hand never leaving Hiyoshi's scarred form. His free hand slid under Hiyoshi's body, turning him so they were lying face to face. He gently repeated, "What did you say?"

"I said, I don't remember it. I woke up in the hospital a week after it happened."

Hiyoshi's grip on his hand became painfully tight, but Katsu didn't say anything. It must have shown on his face — he probably looked like he just got hit by one of Ohtori's serves — because Hiyoshi snickered, pressing his face into Katsu's neck. Hiyoshi's breath came out of his mouth, hot and wet against Katsu's skin.

"I'm sorry," Katsu murmured into Hiyoshi's honey hair.

"I don't want or need your pity."

"I'm not pitying you. I just wish it wasn't like this. Learn the difference, jerk."

"Shut up, idiot."

Katsu shut up, his eyes closing.

.

That night didn't last. Katsu returned to his room, Ohtori returned to sleep, and Hiyoshi drifted off into a land of nightmares. The following day, when Katsu was sticky with sweat and aching from practice, he saw Hiyoshi sitting under the tree with a book in his lap.

"Katsu-buchou," Ohtori prompted from behind him. "Are you alright? You seem... different."

"For the first time, I don't feel like I have an acid-addicted squirrel writhing in my stomach." He turned and smiled at his vice-captain. "And it rocks."

Ohtori smiled warily.

Katsu looked back at boy under the tree and caught his eye.

.

At two in the morning, Katsu heard the TV in the common room flick on. He grabbed his glasses and walked out of his dorm, ready to yell at whatever idiot turned on the TV (he really hoped it was Ikeda so he could finally yell at him for being the King of Smug). However, when he saw honey-hair and and a sci-fi show, he knew it was not Ikeda.

Katsu fixed his glasses before walking around the sofa and sitting down near Hiyoshi. The boy looked exhausted, like he had just watched all eight Harry Potter movies without stopping.

"Why are you up?" Katsu asked. He already knew the answer even if Hiyoshi never admitted it — nightmares. "We have a test in calc tomorrow."

"I can fail every test until the final and still have a grade that's higher than yours," Hiyoshi replied bluntly. "Unlike you, I'm not an idiot."

"That's not answering my question. Give me some of your blanket. It's cold in here."

Katsu reached over before Hiyoshi could respond. He grabbed a fistful of the blanket that was covering Hiyoshi's lap and tugged it over his legs. Katsu's chest was bare and he was afraid his nipples were going to start doing weird things. Hiyoshi, the mushroom bastard, was wearing a t-shirt.

In retrospect, that's not why Hiyoshi wore a t-shirt. It wasn't to hide weird nipples, but to hide bad memories. So basically Katsu felt like a jerk for that thought.

"So, uh, we okay?" Katsu asked.

Hiyoshi tugged a bit of the blanket back over his legs, but left enough for Katsu to curl over his bare chest. "Sure. Whatever."

"I meant—"

"I know what you meant."

Hiyoshi looked over at Katsu, who had the blanket covering every part of him but his head. Katsu looked like a turtle. Even Hiyoshi could not hide his smile and Katsu was more than happy to point that out.

.

Katsu felt hot and sticky the moment he walked out of the locker room for practice. His glasses fogged up, the water in the air clinging to the glass. Ohtori was right behind him, waving his hand in an attempt to start a breeze.

"Let's just get this over with," Katsu said as he cleaned his glasses, putting them back on shortly after.

Several moments later, Katsu felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and nearly hit his face against the phone Ohtori was holding out for him to see. He looked at the screen and saw a text from Hiyoshi.

_His glasses are crooked._

Katsu looked at the boy who was sitting on the hill and screamed, "You can't even see from there!"

Several moments later, Ohtori received another text.

_That's what you think, not Hiyoshi._

Katsu had no problems performing Mercury's Wrath during practice as long as he imagined the ball was Hiyoshi's big, fat, stupid head.

.

It was late at night and rain was pounding on the windows. Hiyoshi and Katsu sat on the sofa, silently watching a sci-fi show. A random thought came to Katsu that night when their shoulders pressed together under the blanket.

"I don't have your phone number."

Hiyoshi looked visibly confused. "Is that your way of asking for it? Because you could just ask Choutarou, stupid."

"Do you text a lot?"

"Not particularly. Why?"

Katsu shrugged, keeping his hazel eyes on the television. He knew he sounded lame, but he couldn't keep his mouth shut, "I could text you if I had your number. Would you text me?"

"Sure," Hiyoshi said, obviously just saying that to get Katsu to shut up. "I'll send you a list of everything I'm allergic to and hate so you can add it to your list."

Katsu hesitated before asking, "That was a joke, right?"

"Yes, that was a joke," Hiyoshi deadpanned.

"It was a really bad joke."

Hiyoshi knocked his shoulder against Katsu's.

In the morning, Katsu had a text from an unknown number. Katsu smiled like a fool when he read Hiyoshi's long, over explaining message about why he was giving Katsu his phone number.

.

More times than not, Katsu was bored. It was something that happened when you went to a boarding school — your friends were busy and you're left alone in your room with nothing to do, feeling like a loser. Harada was swimming, Aoki was studying, Ohtori was somewhere, and Hiyoshi was not responding to his texts. Katsu decided not to be a loser. He would a social butterfly. That's when it hit him that he may be gayer than he thought. No boy willingly called themselves a butterfly.

Katsu dragged himself away from his phone and walked down the row of dorm room doors. He thought briefly of visiting Aoki, but decided not to risk it when he remembered Ikeda might be in that very room. So he went into 2C, which was unlocked, which was strange, which meant Katsu was having a very lucky day or was about to suffer through something similar to the summer hazing fiasco.

There was no one in the room; he even checked the bathroom. He sat down on the bottom bunk and leaned back on his hands. Well, that plan was a bust. At least, he thought it was until he heard Ohtori and Hiyoshi's voices drift in from the hall.

"Why won't you, Wakashi? You like him!" There was the noise that sounded like a fist gently hitting a shoulder followed by Ohtori exclaiming, "I'm only trying to help!"

Katsu didn't know what came over him. The image of Hiyoshi walking into the room and seeing him did not end well. So Katsu opened up a clothes cabinet, pushed himself into the small space, and was thankful for being short for the first time in his life. He closed the door behind him.

Silently, he listened to Ohtori and Hiyoshi enter the room. He heard the door lock, Hiyoshi sit down on his bed with a sigh, and Ohtori say, "But Wakashi—"

"No, Choutarou," Hiyoshi said firmly. "I'm not doing it."

"But—"

"No."

Randomly, Katsu realized he was in Hiyoshi's cabinet, which was like a closest. He was in Hiyoshi's closest. There were too many jokes to be made, and not enough time because he was falling forward, his tiny body still too large for the small container. He hit the ground face-first. When he looked up, he saw Ohtori and Hiyoshi staring at him.

"Why are you hiding in Wakashi's closest, Katsu-buchou?" Ohtori asked.

"Do you want me to throw you out?" Hiyoshi asked, looking at at Katsu, who was pushing himself to his feet.

"Wakashi!"

Hiyoshi stood up and walked over towards Ohtori. Angrily, Hiyoshi snapped, "He's spying on me!"

When Hiyoshi rounded on Katsu, the captain panicked. Hiyoshi had that look in his eyes again, and Katsu knew what it meant. He did not want to all of the progress he had made with Hiyoshi.

"And what exactly did you hear?" Hiyoshi prompted. Add in some flames and he would be a villain.

"Uh," Katsu replied dumbly. "Something about Ohtori wanting you to do something."

Hiyoshi looked as though he could hit Ohtori again, but he didn't. The mushroom head turned to his taller roommate, who took that as his cue to leave. As Ohtori passed Katsu, he said, "He's not mad. Just confused."

"_Choutarou_."

Ohtori held up his hands in defense as he left the room, locking it behind him. Silence fell over the room and Katsu began to wonder when the crickets would start. The best Katsu could hope for was a giant flying squirrel crashing through the window, distracting Hiyoshi long enough for him to make his escape. He doubted that would happen.

"What did Ohtori want you to do?" Hiyoshi gave him a stern look so Katsu added, "I didn't hear that part, you freak. We've been over this before — talk or we're not going make it."

"You keep calling us an 'us' like we're together. You're the stupid one who — who — you know what you did."

"You're the one giving mixed signals!" Katsu responded. "So just give me an answer. Yes or no."

"You should answer your own questions before you ask other people to answer them."

What. The. Heck.

"Uh," Katsu said. That had taken him off guard. He felt like he was naked and surrounded by his old senpai once more, but that didn't change anything. "Yeah, yes, yay — every way to confirm a statement. Your turn, jerk."

Katsu groaned at his own words. He needed to lock his mouth shut permanently.

"Well?" Katsu prompted when Hiyoshi didn't respond. "Right now, I'm taking your silence as a 'screw you.'"

"You're an idiot," Hiyoshi stated firmly. He was looking straight at Katsu, too damn proud to look away even though his cheeks were flaming. "I told you we were okay. Are you really going to make me answer that childish question?"

"No, you said, 'Sure. Whatever.'"

Hiyoshi looked down, honey mushroom hair covering his eyes, his pride breaking because of Katsu Ren. Grumbling, he said, "You know what I meant."

_Yes._

Those few words caused Katsu to repeat the same idiotic thing he had done back in winter. Hiyoshi didn't seem mad, though, and he didn't forget this time; Katsu made sure of that.

.

Harada was sitting at the desk when Katsu brought it up. The swim captain looked at Katsu, mouth slightly open, eyes showing his disbelief.

"Wait," Harada said slowly. "Let me get this straight. You and Hiyoshi are _you and Hiyoshi_?"

Katsu nodded from his bed. "Yup."

"What did you do? Pull the stick out of his ass? Hit him with a tennis ball? Blackmail him? Did you try to kill him and fail, and he lost his memory or something?"

Katsu rolled his hazel eyes at all of Harada's idiotic suggestions.

"No," Katsu replied, rolling his eyes at all of Harada's idiotic suggestions. "We were just sort of talking and — actually, I don't really know what happened."

"You shoved your tongue down his throat."

"Yes."

"Congrats, I guess? Just don't get kinky in here, okay? You taking care of your happy dreams in the bathroom is one thing, but if I see Hiyoshi's—"

"It's not like that!"

"—on your bed, I will throw up."

Katsu turned red. "It's not like that. I don't even know if we're going out. Is it worse to kill someone when you're dating them than if they're a stranger?"

"Either way, I'm pretty sure it's first-degree."

"Damn."

Harada rolled his eyes, tapping his pencil against the desk. "Okay. So. You and Hiyoshi. No fornicating in this room, no showers together, and no PDA in front of me or I will be allowed to punch you in the face."

"Why would you punch me?"

"Because Hiyoshi would kill me if I hit him."

"Thanks, Hara."

"No problem, Kat."

That night, when Katsu was texting Hiyoshi and explained what had happened, Hiyoshi told him that Ohtori and he had a very similar conversation.

.

During calculus, Katsu find himself looking at Hiyoshi more than he probably should, and Hiyoshi looked back. Albeit, Hiyoshi looked reluctantly, and had the decency to look away when Katsu caught him. It was like they were girls or something.

"How do you do these things?" Katsu asked. They were on converging and diverging tests now; his brain felt like an acid-addicted squirrel was running around inside his skull.

Hiyoshi sighed and pushes his notes to the edge of the desk. Katsu scooped them up without a moment of hesitation, and smiled brightly. "Thanks."

Hiyoshi looked down at his desk, honey hair covering his face. "Just shut up."

Katsu copied the notes, then examined Hiyoshi's doodles — Saturn, a UFO, the moon, the sun, and stars. He scribbled an alien in a gap of empty space; it was holding a sign that said, "Hi." When he returned the notes to Hiyoshi, he received an exasperated sign and an eye roll. It was worth it.

.

There were days when the humidity was so bad that it felt as if summer had come early. Sweat dripped off of Katsu's face, stinging as it dipped into that cut he made while shaving. It was hot enough for Hiyoshi to sit on the floor of his dorm room next to Katsu, a fan pointed at them, with his shirt off. Ohtori was in the music room, the door was locked, and Hiyoshi had propped a chair up against the door just in case. Even then, Katsu could tell that just sitting without a shirt was a big deal for Hiyoshi. For some reason, he took pride in being trusted by Hiyoshi Wakashi, like he deserved a Heck Yeah Award.

The heat had to be getting to him.

"Make it stop," Katsu groaned as he stuck his face in front of the fan. "I'm dying."

Hiyoshi shoved Katsu's head away, grumbling, "Don't put your big head in front of it." He groaned, wiping his sweaty hand on his shorts.

Katsu tugged his shorts up even higher so he was almost completely exposed — chest, legs, feet. Occasionally, Hiyoshi's bare shoulder brushed against his, skin burning like fire.

Hiyoshi leaned forward to adjust the fan and Katsu saw a scar on his back, the other side of part of the large one of his chest. It was so close to his spine that Katsu wondered how Hiyoshi was able to move.

"I bet Atobe sacrificed a first year," Katsu muttered.

Hiyoshi froze and looked over his shoulder. "_What?_"

Katsu tapped his fingers along Hiyoshi's scar, causing the boy to become stiff. "This. It's close to your spine. I bet Atobe sacrificed someone so you could move."

"I think the doctors did that," Hiyoshi replied. He reached around and moved Katsu's hand so he could lean back against the bottom of the bunk beds.

"Did Atobe pay for the doctors?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Voo-doo doctors." Hiyoshi rolled his eyes as Katsu turned to face him, completely serious. "I bet he hired voo-doo doctors to sacrifice someone to the tennis gods to save you. No, I bet he had Oshitari do that so there wouldn't be a trail back to him."

"You are completely insane."

"I'm not kidding! It makes total sense! You know that Atobe would totally do that."

Hiyoshi put a hand on Katsu's chest and shoved, pushing the boy back onto his butt. "Shut up and fix your glasses."

Katsu sat up, adjusted his thick glasses, and continued to enlighten Hiyoshi, who gave in with a sigh and a quirk of his lips that Katsu didn't see.

.

Katsu stuck his fingers into his mouth to blow the loudest, most deafening whistle he had ever given. The club members stopped in their tracks to cover their ears and glare at their captain. Even Hiyoshi, who was on the top of the hill under the tree, looked up from his book.

Ohtori walked up to his captain and whispered, "Did I mix up the practice schedules? I thought today was matches only..."

Katsu reached into his back pocket and held up the magazine that claimed he was the worst captain Hyotei had seen for years. With everyone watching him, he tore the magazine in half and tossed it to the ground.

"This is false," Katsu shouted, stepping forward onto the ripped magazine. "And I will show the truth to anyone who believes this lie."

It wasn't the best speech, it could hardly be called a speech at all. But slowly, starting with Ohtori, peopled clapped and cheered and broke out into an old classic — "The winner will be Hyotei!"

Katsu looked up at Hiyoshi, who shook his head and look back at his book as if to say, "Took you long enough, not Hiyoshi."

Katsu Ren was the captain of Hyotei, and for the first time, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

.

At four in the morning, Katsu closed his calculus book, feeling prepared for the test tomorrow. He stretched his arms above his head and looked down at the notes on his desk. On second thought, that problem looked like Latin, so he was probably going to fail.

He groped his desk for his phone to text Ohtori and tell him that he would be too tired for practice, but couldn't find his phone. He remembered that it was lying at the bottom of his tennis locker, dead. He groaned and stood up, clambering out into the hall and towards 2C. He expected it to be dark, but there was a light. He opened the door, knowing that doing so would cause him to be unwillingly dragged between more of Ohtori and Hiyoshi's drama. Yet he opened it anyway.

Ohtori was hanging off the top bunk, contorting himself to look down at the bottom bunk where Hiyoshi slept.

"Uh, hey," Katsu said awkwardly.

Ohtori turned and looked at his captain. He jumped out of bed instead of going down the ladder and walked over. "Did he text you?"

"No. I came to tell you that I can't make it to morning practice 'cause I stayed up all night." He peered around the tall boy to look at the bottom bunk. "Is he okay?"

Ohtori smiled solemnly and replied simply, "It's Wakashi."

Hiyoshi was lying on his side on the bottom bunk of the bed. Even though the Hiyoshi was underneath the covers, Katsu could see that he was shaking. As Katsu walked farther into the room, Ohtori left. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his heart thumping in his chest; he knew Hiyoshi's would be louder and harsher.

Katsu's voice cracked as he spoke, "H-_ey._"

Hiyoshi didn't respond, not even with a "your glasses are crooked."

Katsu reached out, tugging on Hiyoshi's shoulder and meeting no resistance. Hiyoshi's muscles were stiff, but he did not trying to pull away, toss Katsu to the ground, or send out death threats — that's when Katsu knew something was really wrong. This was not the Hiyoshi he knew. This was the not the Hiyoshi he lo —

_Loathed? Loved?_ He no longer knew.

Hiyoshi stared up at him, face tense and hard to decipher, and asked, "What?"

"I was going to tell Ohtori that I can't make it to morning practice and lo and behold, you're here." Katsu kept his hand on Hiyoshi's shoulder, squeezing gently. "You're shaking, you stupid mushroom. Nightmare?"

Hiyoshi reached up and tugged Katsu's hand off of his shoulder, then turned so he was facing Katsu. He dug his face into the pillow, breathing deeply in and shallowly out. His answer was a breath, a breath that Katsu wasn't sure he could resuscitate. "Yeah."

"Wanna, uh, I don't know? Tell me about it?" Hiyoshi huffed, amused at the idea, pressing more of his face into the pillow. Katsu tugged on his mushroom hair. "Hey, idiot, you're going to suffocate if you keep doing that. Only I'm allowed to kill you."

"I lied."

Katsu slid his hair from Hiyoshi's hair down to his neck, fingers gently tickling. "People lie all the time."

"I lied," he repeated, more face in the pillow, forehead growing closer to Katsu's thigh. "I _lied._"

Katsu rubbed at the back of Hiyoshi's neck, wondering when he started to care and why — because someone he knew was scarred from an accident, or if it was because it was Hiyoshi who was in the accident.

"Did you lie to me?" Katsu asked. He tried to coax Hiyoshi to look at him, but he wouldn't.

"Yeah."

Katsu suck in a shaky breath that matched Hiyoshi's trembling limbs. He wasn't good at this, at being captain, at being friends with Hiyoshi, at being someone that people relied on. But he had to try.

"I think I know what you're feeling. You feel like crap for no reason. You want to curl up into a ball and hide from everyone and everything even though you know they're not the reason you feel so bad. You just want to disappear because anything is better than that feeling.

"So try not to think of all the crappy things. Just breathe or something. Think of happy things like tennis and boobs — do you like boobs?" Hiyoshi tilted his head just so, pressing back against Katsu's hand. Katsu smirked. "Guess not."

"You're an ass, not Hiyoshi." Hiyoshi pressed his head against Katsu's thigh. Beneath the sheets, his hands gripped at anything they could, one hand eventually settling on Katsu's boxers. "You should go. Choutarou needs to sleep."

"If you want me to leave, just tell me. But I have the feeling you don't want that."

Hiyoshi didn't confirm nor deny this comment. He just settled in next to Katsu, who, for the first time in his life, wanted to be relied on.

"Don't worry, gallant Katsu is here to protect you," Katsu joked. "Want me to kiss it and make it all better?"

Hiyoshi pinched his thigh. "I can still push you off."

Katsu smiled, "I'd like to see you try," and for the briefest of moments, Hiyoshi smiled too.

It took Katsu awhile to realize what Hiyoshi had lied about. The nightmare, the panic attack, the memories — writhing flames, warped wreckage, a slab of metal through his gut, his brother in the driver's seat...

Hiyoshi once told him that he did not remember the accident.

That was a lie.

But even if he had lied, Katsu didn't care, because Hiyoshi cared enough to admit it. He would always be there to protect Hiyoshi, like a gallant knight. But first, he needed to find a horse, a suit of armor, and some awesome hero music for the background.

.

In a not so rare moment of chaos, Ikeda, Aoki, Harada, Katsu, Ohtori, and Hiyoshi were sitting on the leather sofa in the common room, cramped and closer than boys should be. Hiyoshi and Katsu were separated by their roommates, but that didn't stop them from sending discreet texts to each other about the other people in the room, mainly Ikeda.

"We can definitely take Regionals," Ikeda was saying. "If I were singles-two instead of that second year, Nationals would be easy; my serve is way better than that newbie's."

"Shut up or I will give you detention," Harada snapped. He pointed the remote at the screen, changing the channel to some comedy show. Hiyoshi sent Katsu a text that made the captain snort, covering his mouth to hold back his laughter.

"What's so funny, Kat?" Harada leaned over Katsu's shoulder, looking at his phone. "Is it your _girlfriend_?"

"You have a girlfriend?" Aoki asked. Did he have a gossip switch or something? Jeez.

"Uh, no."

"Yes, you do," Hiyoshi said. "But I think she wears the pants in the relationship."

Katsu glared at the smug boy when Aoki said, "Is she that girl who you eat lunch with sometimes? She looks mean. I'm sure she's nice and all, but damn. Man shoulders, dude. Man shoulders."

"Who's the only person in this room in a relationship? This guy. So shut it," Katsu said. He could feel Hiyoshi, Ohtori, and Harada looking at him like he had a squirrel on his head and a duck on his crotch. He had just admitted to being in a relationship with Hiyoshi freaking Wakashi. What the freaking heck. Red in the face, he jerked his hand to the TV. "Let's watch Hara's crappy show."

When everyone was thoroughly distracted by Harada's horrible show choice, Katsu sent a text to Hiyoshi and the mushroom head's response made him smile. He was in a relationship with Hiyoshi Wakashi, the boy he hated, and for some reason, he was perfectly alright with that. A zombie squirrel must have eaten his brain or something because he was out of his mind.

.

Katsu sat with his calculus book in his lap, Hiyoshi's notes by his side, and his pencil between his teeth. Harada was swimming laps around the pool in that awful, ugly speedo that made Katsu uncomfortable (and think of Hiyoshi in a speedo, which was weird and wrong and totally awesome in a disturbing way).

"Did you see that?" Harada asked as he pulled himself out of the pool.

"You made shark hands," Katsu replied dully as he stood up. He held his books and notes at his side, putting his pencil behind his ear. Ew, it still had spit on it.

"You know," Harada said, wrapping himself up in a towel, "I miss the good ole days. You used to sit by the pool and plan to kill Hiyoshi. Now you have happy dreams about him and want to plan something else. Oh how times changes."

Katsu gently shoved the taller boy with a mummer of, "Shut it, Hara, or I will kill you with assassin rabbits."

Harada laughed. "You hated the guy!"

"I still do. He's stupid, annoying, still a busybody, is a freaking robot, lectures me about being a bad captain, and—"

"And I don't care anymore," Hararada cut in. Smiling and in a sing-song voice, he said, "You lo-ove him."

"I don't."

Did he?

Hiyoshi was the reason his final year of high school was crap. Hiyoshi was the one who tricked Katsu into liking him. Hiyoshi was the one he hated. But, at the same time, Hiyoshi made his year better. He still wanted to kill Hiyoshi Wakashi, but part of him didn't, which was slightly problematic to say the least. Katsu was waiting for the angel and devil to appear on his shoulder, but they never came.

Stupid movies giving him false hope.

Harada ran past, shoved Katsu by the shoulder, and laughed when Katsu collided with the water with a shrieked "_Hara!_"

.

Katsu was practicing his Jupiter Serve early in the morning when someone walked onto the other side of the court. He immediately recognized the honey mushroom hair, but the tennis bag and athletic clothes made Katsu do a double take. Had he fallen into some parallel universe where Hiyoshi Wakashi hadn't quit tennis? Because that would have solved so many of his problems from a few months ago.

"Do you want me to hit you with my serve? If not, can you go? I'm sort of busy right now." Hiyoshi set his tennis bag down on a bench, not giving Katsu an answer. The captain stared, blinked, then continued to stare. Katsu dumbly asked, "Uh, you aren't going to play, are you?"

"Yes, I am, and I am going to beat you."

Hiyoshi said it so matter of factly that Katsu honestly thought he was serious for a moment. When Hiyoshi walked onto the court, kicking stray balls to the side and holding his old racquet in his hand, Katsu realized that Hiyoshi _was_ serious. After two years of recovery form his accident, Hiyoshi was going to play tennis again, possibly for the first time. No pressure at all.

"I'm not playing you," Katsu said. "I'll get sick and throw up everywhere, or I'll beat you and you'll be all moody."

Hiyoshi struck a look, a look of a captain, a look that Katsu could never quite manage to perfect. "I will beat you and prove that I am the rightful captain of Hyotei."

"Is this some pride thing? Because I will willingly admit that you're the rightful captain. No need to usurp me or whatever."

"Play me, Katsu."

Katsu stared at Hiyoshi for a moment. That mushroom head was not going to budge, he was too damn proud to budge. Katsu sighed, running a hand through his black hair. He walked up to the net and put the tip of his racquet on the court. He spun and the match began.

It was obviously Hiyoshi's first time playing tennis since before the accident that scarred him for life. Even as he ran back and forth, struggling to force his muscles into their old positions, Katsu could tell that Hiyoshi was happy. It occurred to Katsu that Hiyoshi could have played tennis with Ohtori, but he hadn't. Hiyoshi had wanted his first match in two years to be with him. Katsu smiled stupidly at that (he missed the point seconds later).

Hiyoshi trusted Katsu more than either of them would ever admit.

Afterwards, when Katsu had won by pure luck in the tiebreak, the two boys sprawled out in the grassy hill under the shade of the tree. Katsu shed his shirt and used it as a pillow; Hiyoshi pushed his up as much as he could without revealing his scars. There was something calming in behind shoulder-to-shoulder with Hiyoshi, legs knocking, sweaty hands wiggling in an attempt to find a comfortable tangle between their bodies.

"Your hands are too sweaty," Katsu declared. The fingers of the hands were loosely twined, fingers twitching every second. "And you smell like sweat."

"At least I have an excuse for being tired. You play tennis all the time. I haven't played in two years and I could still keep up with you."

"You should have won. My Pluto-Plummet never gets that close to the net."

"I know I should have."

Katsu turned his head, cheek against the grass, realizing Hiyoshi had done the same. Katsu smiled when hazel eyes caught brown. It was a stupid moment during which confusion crossed Hiyoshi's face and an alien warmth filled Katus's.

"What?" Hiyoshi asked.

Katsu felt his heart beat a little faster than it should when he pushed forward to kiss the boy.

"Nothing," Katsu responded, lying back down, hands finally able to find the perfect medium. "Just weird, I guess. One day, I want to feed you to crocodiles. The next, I want to kiss you. It doesn't make sense."

"Obviously it doesn't make sense. You're an idiot and idiots never make sense."

Katsu narrowed his hazel eyes. Hiyoshi reached over with his free hand, pushing Katsu's glasses into place. He dropped his hand onto his scarred stomach, fingers curly gently around the fabric of his shirt. Cue the thump-thump of Katsu's heart and the nervous butterflies — only Hiyoshi did that to him.

"I want a rematch," Katsu said arbitrarily. "Once you're back to the kick ass player you were, I want to beat you fair and square. A captain can't lose, after all."

"Now you're being a smart ass."

"I'm a smart ass?" Katsu asked. He leaned closer again, his free hand supporting him as he hovered over Hiyoshi. "You, sir, are horrible at flirting."

"It's the truth: you're a smart ass." In the grass, Hiyoshi's fingers gently squeezed Katsu's hand. Katsu returned the squeeze, smiling teasingly, as Hiyoshi added, "But I'm a smart ass, too, so it works out."

"Stupid mushroom."

"Not Hiyoshi."

And together, they laughed.

Nobody should have been able to do this to Katsu Ren, nobody. But Hiyoshi did. There was a simple explanation for that and it had nothing to do with assassination plots, acid-addicted squirrels, tattoos, scars, secret kisses, or tennis. It was because of Hiyoshi, who he was, what he saw in Katsu, and how he made Katsu feel. It was really that simple.

There was no one in the world Katsu Ren loved more than Hiyoshi Wakashi.

* * *

**A/N: This is the last chapter! I would love some constructive criticism or just a review on your overall thoughts. I would really appreciate it.**

**I hope you enjoyed the story!**

**-Dolphin**


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